Former Arsenal midfielder Havard Nordtveit has admitted that his return to England didn’t go as well as he’d hoped.

• Nordtveit spent five years with Borussia Monchengladbach after Arsenal let him go
• He signed for West Ham on a free transfer last summer
• He’s struggled with injuries and hasn’t been a regular for Slaven Bilic’s team

The Norwegian was a highly promising player in Arsenal youth academy back in the last 2000s but failed to make a single first team appearance before he moved on to Gladbach in Germany.

He made 181 appearances for Gladbach and even played in the Champions League. When his contract ran down, there were tentative reports linking him with a move back to Arsenal.

However, that move never came to be and he ended up at West Ham. Since then, it hasn’t gone to plan.

“It was not like I had envisioned it to be,” he said, reports the Standard. “For now I let the speculation lie. I still have four years left on my contract with West Ham.”

“Yes I had success in Germany… I will never reject a return to the Bundesliga.”

Nordtveit’s struggles perhaps show that Arsenal didn’t miss out of anything by not re-signing him, though it’s a shame to see a once highly promising player from their academy struggle.