Ian Wright says he was absolutely devastated when Arsenal sold £35m player

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Arsenal have sold some remarkable footballers over the years.

The Gunners are back to being one of European football’s powerhouses at the moment, but, for a long time, Arsenal’s star players were cherry-picked by other clubs.

The likes of Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Adebayor Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure all left within a few years of one another in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

However, perhaps the most painful departure around that time was Cesc Fabregas.

The Spaniard was Arsenal’s club captain and star player, but, sadly, he had his heart set on a move to Barcelona, a deal which ultimately went through for £35m.

Speaking on Stick to Football, Ian Wright has been discussing some of these sales at Arsenal, and he says that the departure of Fabregas was particularly devastating in his mind.

• READ MORE: David Ornstein shares whether Eddie Nketiah is still likely to leave Arsenal before deadline day

Ian Wright was devastated when Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal

Wright spoke about some of the player sales Arsenal made during that period.

“When Thierry left and he won it with Barcelona was heartbreaking. Van Persie, that was a real dagger, that was a dagger. Nasri went to Man City, and we lost Cesc, those types of players, those were devastating,” Wright said.

Arsenal could’ve been incredible

Arsenal were, for so many years, financially hamstrung by the construction of The Emirates Stadium, and that meant they had to sell a number of amazing players.

However, if Arsenal had managed to keep all of their stars, they could’ve had an incredible team.

Nasri, Fabregas and Van Persie didn’t play together for long enough for Arsenal, but if they managed to combine in the same team as the likes of Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure, Arsenal could easily have won major honours.

The latter Arsene Wenger era isn’t remembered all that fondly in north London, but it’s worth remembering that Wenger had numerous issues at Arsenal that were out of his control.