4 stars whose careers have gone downhill since leaving Arsenal

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Arsenal’s fluctuating level of success under Arsene Wenger has seen many superstars leave over the years. Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie are some of the most notable names in a long list of players who left the club and became incredibly successful.

In January 2018, Alexis Sanchez became the latest high profile player to leave the gunners, but it is still too early to measure his success at Manchester United.

However, there are two sides to every story. While the success story is familiar to everyone, on the flipside, there are a few stars who left the club only to see their career spiral downwards for varied reasons.

Some of them did win trophies at their new clubs but that didn’t stop their career trajectory from going downhill.

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#4. Alex Song

Alex Song joined Arsenal in 2005 and left the club in 2012 to join Barcelona. During his stint with the Gunners, he played 215 games and made a reputation as one of the best defensive midfielders in the league.

At Barcelona, it was not surprising that he remained an understudy to the world-class Sergio Busquets during his only two seasons at the club, and sometimes he was even played in defence. In these two seasons, he only started 29 league games.

After two underwhelming seasons at Barcelona, he was sent on loan to West Ham where he only managed to play 46 games in all competitions across two full seasons.

In 2016, Barcelona let Song join Russian side Rubin Kazan on a free transfer – four years after spending £15 million on him.

His time in Russia was equally bad. A year and a half into his tenure with the club, he was told he is free to find a new club and he trained with Arsenal while attempting to find a new club.

However, he was still contracted to Rubin Kazan and Song failed to return to the club after the winter break ended. On 2 April 2018, Rubin sent a complaint to FIFA dispute resolution chamber seeking a compensation of €40 million from Song for breach of contract.

#3. Thomas Vermaelen

The former Arsenal skipper left the club in 2014 to join Barcelona and he is still contracted to the club and may even be offered a one-year extension after impressing Ernesto Valverde.

He is also part of Belgium’s World Cup squad. So then, how exactly did his career go downhill?

The Belgian’s first season at Barcelona sums it up. He made one appearance for the club during the entire season owing to injuries and still ended up as a treble winner.

Vermaelen’s career has been plagued with injuries since leaving Arsenal. In fact, he has been out injured for a period of 417 days after moving to Barcelona, and this includes the one season he spent on loan at AS Roma.

In the last four years, he has played just 53 games across all competitions for Barcelona and AS Roma combined of which only 36 were as starters.

At least, he’s still playing for a club in the Champions League.

#2. Bacary Sagna

Several former Arsenal players have joined Manchester City in recent years with Sagna being the most recent one.

When he left Arsenal upon the expiry of his contract, he was one of the best right-backs in the world, a starter for France and an FA Cup winner.

At Manchester City, he only played 16 games across all competitions in his first season and 86 games overall in three full seasons, before being released as Pep Guardiola deemed him surplus to requirements.

He was one among seven first-team players released by Manchester City ahead of the 2017/18 season and the only one who couldn’t find a new club immediately.

For nearly 8 months after he was released by Manchester City, he was unable to find a new club and when a club wanted him, it was Serie A’s 20th placed club Benevento, which picked up only 21 points in 38 league games and spent 36 straight match days at the bottom of the league table.

Now 35, it might be time for Sagna to hang up his boots.

#1. Samir Nasri

Nasri was one of France’s biggest talents when he joined Arsenal in 2008 and he was part of the PFA Team of the Year in 2010/11 while he was still at the North London club.

The following season, he forced a move to Manchester City which made him a hated figure at the North London club. His initial seasons at Manchester City went well and he picked up two Premier League medals with the Cityzens.

He was out of action for most of the 2015/16 season with an injury and after the arrival of Guardiola, he was sent on loan to Sevilla for the 2016/17 season.

After returning from his rather unsuccessful loan spell, Man City did everything in their power to offload the player and he ultimately joined Turkish club Antalyaspor on a two-year contract.

Five months later, his contract was mutually terminated after playing just 8 games and scoring two goals for the club.

On 22 February 2018, he was banned from football for six-months by UEFA after breaching the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules in December 2016..

Aged 30, Nasri should have been hitting the peak years of his career but instead, he finds himself without a club and banned from football.