Veteran Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny admits it "still hurts" to have missed out on a Premier League title during his time at Arsenal.
Szczesny, in Birmingham for pre-season training with Barça, is nevertheless grateful to have finally seen his former club end their league title drought in the 2025-26 season.
Arsenal had finished runners-up in the previous three consecutive campaigns.
"I suffered a lot [during] the Champions League final," Szczesny said to The Athletic in reference to Arsenal's penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on May 30.
"But to win the Premier League after 22 years... It's a big relief because I've waited for it for a very long time and I'm very happy they built a project of probably one of the best clubs in Europe."
Wojciech Szczesny says he regrets not winning a Premier League title with Arsenal. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images. Szczesny joined the Gunners as a teenager in 2006 and made 181 appearances for them in his 10 years at the club.
During the 2013-14 campaign, Arsenal were top of the league longer than any other side but collapsed and were out of the race by late March.
Szczesny was joint-winner of the Golden Glove award in 2013-14 with Petr Cech.
"When I was there, we had one season when we were on top of the league for a very long time, and we lost in the end," the Poland goalkeeper said.
"I felt we were the best team in the league. But we were a very young, inexperienced team, and in the end, when it mattered, we fell short. It still hurts because it's the one trophy that I haven't won in professional football that I would have loved to win... winning the Premier League with Arsenal. It's still bugging me from the inside, but as a fan I'm very happy about what happened this year.
"Arsenal is a place where I made my dream come true. Emotionally, it's the maximum that I believe anybody can achieve: playing for the club of your dreams. I've achieved the dream. It's the peak of your career. It's a beautiful story, although I only won three trophies with Arsenal: two FA Cups and a Community Shield.
"It will probably always be the most beautiful part of my career. The one filled with the most passion. It was also the start of my career. I was very hungry, very determined to show people that I belong at that level."
Szczesny retired from football in August 2024 following a long spell at Juventus but signed for the Spanish giants two months later after first choice Marc-André ter Stegen suffered a season-ending injury.