Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein insisted yesterday the £30m package deal that has taken Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit to Barcelona was done with the full blessing of manager Arsene Wenger.
And although Dein admitted that it was ''sad to see world-class players go, especially when they are under contract'' the Highbury power-broker indicated the offer from the Spanish giants was just too much to resist.
A year ago, Arsenal sold France striker Nicolas Anelka to Real Madrid for £23.5m after months of resistance in which they accused Real of making an illegal approach and blasted the player's agents - which included Anelka's two older brothers - of engineering a move that broke a long-term contract.
Dein and Barcelona's new president Joan Gaspart concluded negotiations in the early hours of yesterday morning after Gaspart flew into London yesterday having publicly signalled his intent to recruit Petit and Overmars with most of the £37m the Catalan club received from Real for the transfer of Luis Figo.
A week ago Wenger, currently in Germany with his squad, said that he wanted to keep the pair provided they could promise him full commitment to the Arsenal cause.
Yet Wenger had already signed French Euro 2000 winger Robert Pires for £6m from Marseille and Cameroon international Lauren, a right-back or central midfielder for £7m from Real Mallorca.
And Dein said: ''We have been in close contact with Arsene all along because we have known about Barcelona's interest in Overmars and Petit for some time.
''Right from the start Arsene has given us a list of players he wanted to keep and considered priceless. We adhered to that.
''In the end the decision to release them was down to Arsene and it is a record transfer deal for us. It is a package deal but you can draw your own conclusions over what each player has cost.
''I have to stress that we are sad to see them go, but I don't think that too many Arsenal supporters are surprised that they have.
''It is a far more transient world we live in now with the movement of players from one club to another. I don't want to talk about loyalty or disloyalty but it is a fact that not many people in this country had heard of Petit before he came to Highbury.
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