Nigel Winterburn says he didn’t want to leave Arsenal after spending 13 years with the club.
The full-back, who made an impressive 577 appearances for the Gunners after joining from Wimbledon in 1987, picked up an array of silverware during his tenure – including two First Division titles, a Premier League, two FA Cups, a League Cup, and a European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Despite his long-standing tenure, which had many tag him as one of the elite left-backs of his era, Winterburn ultimately moved to West Ham United in 2000.
Reflecting on that period and his reluctance to leave Highbury, Winterburn told Mirror Football via William Hill: “I came from Wimbledon to Arsenal, I think my first six months for me were probably the hardest. I’m joining a huge club from a team that’s come up through the ranks.
But it’s still the same thing, and I say it all the time – when you’re used to playing regularly to not playing, even though you’re moving to, let’s say, a better club, a bigger club with a huge history, I love the atmosphere of matchday.
“So I found that very, very difficult for a long period of time, but once I started to break in – initially at right-back and occasionally at left-back – and then the following season, I was pretty much in full-time and I played most of the time if I was fit throughout my career at Arsenal, probably apart from the last six months.
