“Spare any change?”
Despite looking like a Glaswegian smackhead, Alex Hleb can play football quite well. That’s why Arsene Wenger signed him, from Stuttgart in 2005.
After a very slow start, Hleb had just started to become a key player for Wenger when he decided the promise of free tapas for life was too good to resist, and walked away from north London, whilst still under contract.
The Spanish dream quickly turned into one of those “Oh no, what have I done!” decisions for the gaunt Belarusian – most of the time, he got nowhere near Barcelona’s first team. Predictable, but Hleb clearly didn’t see it coming.
Now Hleb is back at Stuttgart, wondering if his exciting trip to two of Europe’s best clubs was just a smack-induced dream.
This week he told the press that he “regrets” leaving Arsenal. Tell us (and Mathieu Flamini) something you don’t know. Of course you regret it. Every Gooner in the land could have told you you’d be better off staying, but you couldn’t resist Barca’s bullshit. And now look at you, playing for a very respectable club but also back to square one. We. Told. You. So.