Julio Baptista has been reflecting on his one season spell with London club Arsenal, in an interview with Sky Sports. The Brazilian is currently between clubs having represented Sevilla, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Cruzeiro amongst others.
He has been playing in the Soccer Sixes in London during the summer and reflected on the one season loan spell he spent in North London back in the 2006-07 season. It was a deal that saw Spanish forward Jose Antonio Reyes move in the opposite direction.
“It’s a long time since I’ve been in London. It has been great to come back and see some old friends. I have very good memories of Arsenal. It was a very good experience. It’s a very competitive league, a different type of football for me, but I loved the time I had here.”
Baptista failed to impress during his time with Arsenal and the forward puts that down to the more direct style of football played in the Premier League, “It was quite a lot more physical in the Premier League.
“In Spain they play more with the ball, moving it between the lines, but here it is more direct,” he adds. “It is about finding what space you can and making lots of crosses. It’s direct and aggressive.
“In England, if one of the big teams does badly, they get left behind. That’s what happened to Arsenal last year. Arsenal, one of the biggest clubs in England, dropping out of the Champions League places… Imagine that!”
