Cesc Fabregas says Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri were the only Arsenal teammates who were 'at his level'.

The Spaniard spent nine years at Arsenal after arriving from Barcelona's academy in 2003, becoming the club's youngest ever player.

Having only picked up a solitary FA Cup in his nine-year stint at the club, Fabregas admits he never played without quality at the Emirates.

"I was the captain, I always felt so much pressure on myself," Fabregas told Arseblog . "I had to lead this team to win something. I gave everything. Sometimes, I used to go home after we lost and I used to cry.

"I used to suffer, I used to spend sleepless nights suffering. And then you lose a game, you're in the bus like this, destroyed, and then you hear some players laughing, thinking about where they will be going out later.

"This was going on for a few years. We were playing beautiful football and I enjoyed that side of things but I was putting pressure on myself to lead, to do everything and at one point I felt kind of lonely.

"Especially in the last two or three years, I felt Robin and Samir were the only players - it's not an arrogant thing to say, it's how I felt at that time - were the players who were at my level mentally and technically.

"Many things came in my head, I have to admit I was a bit empty, I was drained mentally, physically, in my soul knowing I'm giving everything, knowing a few signings the club could have made but didn't happen.

"Seeing some behaviours from certain players or something like this made me feel I wanted to check something else. If it was not because of that, I would not have left Arsenal at that time."