The one-and-a-half-year André Santos spent at Arsenal was hardly successful, but certainly enough for him to have many good stories to tell.
One of them is about the time he was arrested on his way to the Gunners’ training ground, which happened during the summer of 2012, a day before the start of the season.
André Santos recalled this story now in an interview with Jovem Pan. He claims he was only willing to drive fast and listen to some music, and ended up being surprised by the police.
“That day, I was going to training and there was a motorway to Arsenal’s training centre, called the M25. Then, new in England, everything works, I was with Maserati and I thought: ‘I’m going to give it a go’. Quiet, sound of Belo exploding. Listening to Belo and going to training,” said André Santos (via Diario do Fla).
“The police told me to stop and I didn’t see it. I got into the M25 and ripped it. It was 70 mph [the speed limit]. I was at 125mph. Then, cutting, cutting, when I get close to the training centre, where there was a fork, I pulled over, two police cars closed me down and another arrived behind.”
“They told me to get out of the car, I got out. Didn’t even speak English. And the sound exploding with Belo. I said I wasn’t a criminal and they searched me. The guys going to training, Giroud, Arteta: ‘what did you do?”
“I just wanted someone who spoke Portuguese to help me. Seu José, a Portuguese who worked at the training ground, who took care of the pitches, came and helped me. They arrested me, handcuffed me, put me inside the van. They said I needed someone to pick up the car and that I was going to the police station. I was arrested. One day before the Premier League’s first game. I’d be the starter. I stayed from 9 am to 7 pm.”
André Santos joined Arsenal on a €7m move from Fenerbahce in the summer of 2011. He made 33 appearances for the club, scoring three goals. He first left the club in January 2013 on a loan deal to Grêmio, and then sealed the permanent exit to Flamengo six months later.
In a recent interview with the Brazilian media, the left-back revealed a heated argument he had with former Gunners boss Arsene Wenger about his transfer out of the club.
