Martin Graiciar is still disappointed to have not secured a permanent move to Arsenal earlier in his career.
Monday’s edition of [MF Dnes](https://www.mfdnes.cz/) has published an interview with the player to review his career. The 26-year-old has already quit football since leaving York United at the end of 2022.
He had spells at Sparta Prague and FC Viktoria Plzeň’s academy, and Arsenal signed him on loan for their academy in 2015.
During the former forward’s time with the Gunners, he was part of their youth set up. He didn’t represent their first team.
The Czech was offered opportunities to train under Arsène Wenger, who was then in charge at the Emirates. This would have been possible had the Gunners made his stay permanent.
According to Graiciar, Arsenal agreed a €1.6m deal to buy him. After his loan spell, he returned to the north London club to join them permanently.
_“Everything was agreed upon. I even flew to London normally for the second time, and Pilsen was supposed to receive 40 million koruna \[€1.6m\] for me at that time, which they were already planning to use for the reconstruction of the stadium. Arsenal promised me that I would be able to train with the A team from time to time,”_ he said.
However, the permanent transfer didn’t go through. The Czech cites concern over his fitness as the reason behind it.
_“It was at a time when I grew up quickly and started having problems with my back and groin,”_ Graiciar explained.
_“And unfortunately, also at a time when I first started to allow myself to be pressured, which then bound me tremendously throughout my career. I developed psychosomatic problems and inexplicable pain. As soon as I felt uncomfortable and stressed, my muscle would prick me, which I thoughtlessly told the physiotherapist at Arsenal.”_
Graiciar has blamed himself for not securing a permanent move to Arsenal. He seems to believe that it could have been avoided.
_“I wanted to go to training, but the standard practice was that they had to check me first,”_ he added.
_“I’m a talkative type and I told them straight away that I had a slight muscle pull. If I had kept my mouth shut and at least tried, things could have turned out differently. They just told me straight away that I’d better stay in the gym._
_“This was followed by a round of examinations, an MRI and a lot more. Logically, they wanted to know in detail what was bothering me. It dragged on for a few days, then they sent me back._
_“I’ll never find out what would have happened if I had gone on the pitch at that time. And I blame myself a little.”_