Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger: I surprised everybody re-signing Mathieu Flamini

Arsene Wenger says he surprised everybody when the Arsenal manager re-signed Mathieu Flamini last summer.

The France midfielder was one of the driving forces behind Arsenal’s comeback in a 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday, scoring from close range in the 55th minute.

He did extremely well and gives us the balance and qualities which are needed in the team

Arsene Wenger

Wenger secured the signing of the 30-year-old on a free transfer from AC Milan last summer after Flamini quit the north London club for Serie A in 2008.

And the Arsenal manager has been thrilled with the impact of the former Marseille midfielder this season.

“I like Flamini, I signed him to the surprise of everybody,” Wenger said.

“He did extremely well and gives us the balance and qualities which are needed in the team.”

Flamini reckons the Gunners are effectively out of the Premier League title race.

“Let’s say for us now it’s important to recover and then we have a difficult game at Everton.

“We know we have a few games to play and we’ll see at the end of the season.

“Of course we know it’s going to be very difficult now but we’ll play game after game trying to win every single one.”