Emmanuel Petit assures that he left Arsenal for Barça out of love for his ex-wife. A choice he bitterly regrets.
Christophe Dugarry, Laurent Blanc, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit or Thierry Henry: many French world champions in 1998 have at one point given in to the sirens of Barça. But none of them had the expected success. The best illustration of the curse that seemed to affect the Blues in Catalonia was undoubtedly Emmanuel Petit.
Indisputable in England where he shone in the midfield of the Gunners, he was only a shadow of himself for the Blaugrana, repositioned as left-back by Louis van Gaal. And although he ultimately only stayed one year at Barcelona before returning to London, this time to Chelsea, his career was never the same again after this failed experience.
“If I could go back in time…”
And more than twenty years later, the former Monegasque still regrets his decision to join Barça. A choice made moreover “for love of a woman”his ex-wife, the actress Agathe de La Fontaine. “If I could go back in time, I would surely take another option”he also confided to the podcast, adding: “I always saw Barcelona and Madrid among the biggest clubs in the world, but I should have stayed with Arsenal. »
“Sometimes the grass isn't greener elsewhere, and it's better to stay where you are, he continued. When you get love and pleasure and success, why leave? » A few months after his return to London and the birth of a little girl, Emmanuel Petit was going to divorce. And on the pitch, after a blank season at Barça, he was not going to win any trophy with the Blues, having to settle for an English Cup final in 2002.
