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Jack Wilshere has revealed how 'expectations dropped' at Arsenal following the departures of several big-name stars in quick succession.

The Gunners' former captain Cesc Fabregas was first to turn his back on The Emirates after seven years without a league title at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Fabregas had played alongside many of the last great Arsenal side, and was a huge influence at the club.

Losing him to Barcelona was a bitter blow to the club's fans, who then had to watch as Man City poached another player from their ranks in Samir Nasri.

Emmanuel Adebayor and Gael Clichy had already moved to the Etihad, before Robin van Persie joined rivals Man Utd in 2012.

(Image: Getty Images)

Asked whether the transfers had a detrimental impact in the Arsenal dressing room, Wilshere told The Lockdown Tactics podcast: "Yeah it did. The big players like Robin and Nasri were asking the question like ‘why is he going, we think we’re supposed to be challenging for the Premier League’.

"Why is our best player and our captain leaving? Then you see obviously Nasri went to City and I got on really well with Samir and I remember having a conversation with him and he was saying what City are building, it’s hard not to want to be a part of that.

"I could understand where he was coming from but at the same time it hurt because he was so good for us.

"He was going to be one of the reasons why we’d improve and start challenging. I’d always think back to that first season and when we came so close and thinking what would’ve happened.

"Would Cesc have stayed, attracted bigger players challenged in the Champions League? But year after year players left."

Arsenal have struggled to mount a serious title challenge since Fabregas, van Persie and co. left the club, but Wilshere admits a decline had already looked inevitable.

"I saw it over when I first started to the expectation dropping even from then," Wilshere added. "From the first season challenging for the Premier League to then challenging for the top four was what we were going for."