'Impatient' Kyle Bartley had to move on from Arsenal, admits Wenger

ARSENE Wenger has revealed how Kyle Bartley's "impatience" persuaded him to sell the defender to Swansea City.

Bartley impressed against his former club yesterday in what was only a second Swansea appearance since his £1 million move from the Emirates back in August.

The powerful central defender was allowed to leave Arsenal because he wanted regular football — yet he has hardly played for Swansea as yet, thanks in part to a thigh injury which sidelined him for three months.

But Bartley's encouraging display against the Gunners this weekend suggested Swansea have made a shrewd move by bringing the former Rangers loanee on board.

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"He had a good game," Wenger conceded. "He has a bit of a lack of experience and he was especially impatient.

"I could not promise to play him much because of the number of centre-backs we have and, as sometimes happens with players who go out on loan, he didn't want to wait when he came back to us.

"He has not played much for Swansea because he got injured, but I know he has the quality — that's why I signed him when he was 16 from Bolton."

Bartley was part of a Swansea rearguard who did enough to earn Michael Laudrup's men a replay despite a strong effort from Arsenal in the second half yesterday.

Having gone in front through Michu, Swansea were staring at FA Cup elimination after Lukas Podolski and Kieran Gibbs scored inside the final nine minutes.

But Danny Graham scored his third goal in as many games late on to set up a replay in nine days' time.

"We should have won," Wenger insisted. "The second half was much more open than the first. We created many chances and then found ourselves 1-0 down.

"But we showed character and quality to get in front and unfortunately then we lacked calmness and focus at a corner and they equalised.

"We created many chances, but their keeper kept them in it. It's frustrating that we now have a replay, but I would prefer that to being out and Swansea have to play many games as well."

Wenger was in no doubt that his team should have had a penalty when, with the score still goalless, Aaron Ramsey tumbled having crossed paths with Dwight Tiendalli.

Laudrup admitted he feared the worst after the incident, and Wenger said: "It was a penalty.

"The ref saw it, but do you know why he didn't give it? He thought the guy didn't do it on purpose.

"I think it was probably accidental, but Aaron didn't trip himself. He was clearly caught by the Swansea player — that would have been a penalty and them down to ten men."