After confirming he has signed a two-year extension to his current deal at Arsenal, left back Gael Clichy insisted that his head was never turned by talk of interest from Italy and that he is determined to win more silverware in North London.
The club revealed last week that the 22-year-old had signed a new ‘long term’ contract at Emirates Stadium and Clichy has now clarified this means his deal runs until 2012 at the club he joined as a teenager from AS Cannes in 2003.
He was the youngest player to receive a Premier League winners’ medal in the unbeaten season of 2003-2004 but, an FA Cup win aside, the years since have been barren ones for Arsene Wenger and this summer has seen Mathieu Flamini depart with both Alexander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor tipped to follow.
Clichy has not been immune to speculation and after being named in the PFA Team of the Year following a tremendous season at left back, both Juventus and Roma had expressed an interest in taking him from Arsenal.
However, the Gunners fans' favorite had no intention of ending his time under Wenger’s wing and has revealed how he instructed his representatives to shun the interest from Serie A.
“To be honest, I saw it in the newspapers,” Clichy told Football365.fr. “I told my agents that I did not want to talk about anything because my goal was to stay at Arsenal.
“I knew that there were two or three clubs interested in me but they did not tell me the names.
“I know that there were all the big Italian clubs but these are not things that interest me.
“In my head it was always clear: I wanted to stay at Arsenal so I did not have to look any further or to wonder who wanted me.“
Arsenal have now gone three seasons without silverware but in making the Champions League quarter finals and challenging strongly for the title in the first half of last season, there have certainly been signs of improvement in North London.
Quite how a difficult summer impacts on their chances next season remains to be seen, with four senior players potentially leaving including Jens Lehmann, but Clichy insists the future remains bright.
“Yes, it was my priority [to continue with Arsenal],” he added. “Despite spending the last seasons without a trophy at the end, I still aim to succeed with the club and really go forward and win trophies.
“We have a great owner, a great team and I see no reason to seek elsewhere what I can find in London with Arsenal.
“It happened fairly quickly, at the end of the season I told them what I wanted, they were in agreement and the coach supported me.
“I gave them a guarantee of confidence. I am super happy. I hope that we can continue like this for another few years.
“It is just an extension of two years, so it binds me to the club for four years, so if I go to the end of my contract, it will be eight years that I will be at Arsenal.
“If everything goes well, I hope I can fulfill my contract.
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