Former Arsenal midfielder, Denis Suarez, finally got his first minutes of the season after being dropped by Celta Vigo and accused of ‘smearing’ the club.

In the January window, Denis Suarez made a loan move to Espanyol with Celta Vigo having made it perfectly clear he was no longer wanted at the club.

Suarez signed with Celta Vigo in 2019 after a poor loan stint with Arsenal and went on to make 105 appearances over the next three seasons, including 38 games in La Liga last season where he scored four goals and assisted six.

However, Celta Vigo looked to sell Suarez over the summer to get his £97k-per-week wages off their books but, despite offers from four clubs that also reportedly promised the player a higher salary, Suarez refused them all.

The club’s president, Carlos Mourino, accused Suarez of forcing the club to fire him and harming the club through a smear campaign, but the already had an issue with Suarez from the previous summer.

As a result, Suarez did not feature in any games.

With a contract until 2024, and Suarez’s value dropping from €12m to €5m, he made the loan move to Espanyol on deadline day after being heavily linked with a move to Villarreal.

Now 29, Suarez will no doubt look back at his career and wonder ‘what if’.

He had two spells at Barcelona (71 appearances) and time with Arsenal (6) and Manchester City (2), yet somehow finds himself with just 30 La Liga minutes in his locker from this campaign and is far from the household name he could have been.

Still, he can count among his trophies two La Liga titles (Barcelona), two Spanish Cups (Barcelona), two u-19 Euro’s (Spain) and a Europa League title (Sevilla).

Not bad for a player most Arsenal fans would tell you was rubbish.