Wenger sold Diarra after impatient star 'panicked'

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• More Premier League news club by club

The Arsenal manager fought to keep the France international but claimed he was too impatient to carve out a career at Emirates Stadium.

Diarra completed the £5.5million switch to Fratton Park yesterday because he wanted more regular games ahead of this summer's European Championships.

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Fratton new boy: Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp with signing Lassana Diarra

The 22-year-old only joined Arsenal from Chelsea at the end of August and he has already insisted that he will return to a big club before long, despite signing a three-and-a-half year deal with Portsmouth.

Wenger said: "It was a disappointment to let him go because I fought to get him and to keep him. He was impatient. He put himself under a lot of pressure and that increased his impatience.

"It was understandable a little bit because he was in the same situation at Chelsea.

"He arrived only on the 31 August and the train had started without him. To get on you need patience and just because it had been tested for so long at Chelsea I think he panicked a little bit."

Diarra made 13 appearances for Arsenal including eight starts and the club have made a profit of more than £3m on him in less than five months.

Wenger eventually agreed to sell because he has so many other options in central midfield.

He said: "I let Diarra go for the major reason I couldn't guarantee he would play. We also have many players who can play central and are upcoming like Denilson, Abou Diaby, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas plus a very experienced player like Gilberto Silva, and even Alex Song can play midfield."

'Impatient': new Pompey signing Lassana Diarra (left) only joined Arsenal from Chelsea at the end of August

Wenger has been dealt a blow by the news that striker Robin van Persie could be out for another few weeks with a thigh injury.

Johan Djourou has a groin problem and will also be out for a fortnight but Tomas Rosicky returns to the squad for tomorrow's game at Fulham.