Former Arsenal midfielder Lassana Diarra has insisted that he was right to leave the club and says that he moved on to bigger and better things after leaving the Gunners.
The 30-year-old left Arsene Wenger's side after only five months and seven Premier League appearances to join Portsmouth, where he won the 2008 FA Cup just five months later.
He then went on to play for Spanish giants Real Madrid for three-and-a-half years, winning one La Liga title and a Copa del Rey.
The French international, who has won 28 caps for his country, said that his successes after leaving Arsenal prove that it was the right decision to cut his stay at the club short, and praised then-Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp for getting him a move to Real.
He told L'Equipe: "I proved to everybody that I was right to leave Arsenal. I went to Portsmouth and then I went to Real Madrid. So I was right. Honestly, what is the better club between Arsenal and Real Madrid?
"The coach who best understood me was Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth. Yet when I arrived at Portsmouth... I wondered where I had set foot. But the first time I met him, he told me: 'You are a wounded animal, you. Come on, you are going to show them.'"
After two years in Russia, Diarra is now back in his home country with Marseille.
Tom Nightingale
