Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang signed a new contract at the club because of their 'incredible' team.
Aubameyang finally put an end to speculation about his future by signing a fresh three-year-contract worth £350,000-a-week earlier this week and declaring he wanted to become a legend at the club.
Barcelona and Inter Milan made approaches for the player in January and reports in Spain claimed the Catalan giants failed with a late move this summer for the Gabon international as they aim to replace Luis Suarez.
But Arteta has claimed he turned down Barcelona because the north London side are just 'as big' as their LaLiga counterparts.
'I think a big reason why Auba is staying is because we have an incredible football team,' Arteta said.
'We have some fantastic people working here and he feels the love from the fans.
'I did my part, explaining to him what we are trying to do, explaining to him how important he is going to be, what we are building. That's it.
'The club has to take credit for that and all the people who put together this package for him to stay.'
When quizzed about interest from Barcelona and Inter, Arteta added: 'The size of our club is as big as those names. The most important thing is the football club. What we inspire to be, and what we can achieve in the future.
'We must make sure that our players believe in our project.'
Aubameyang, 31, scored 29 goals across all competitions and helped Arsenal win the FA Cup final last season, three weeks before their Community Shield victory against Liverpool at the start of the current campaign.
The Gunners skipper scored in both games - and got his team off to the perfect start on Saturday with a sublime finish in their 3-0 victory at Fulham.
Arsenal are still in the market to add to their squad, with goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson on the verge of joining Brazilian duo Willian and Gabriel as well as Dani Ceballos as the club's summer signings.
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I read some of the comments here when auba has signed the contract few days ago.5-10 year old arsenal fans were calling Thierry Henry a Judas and critisising "King Henry"mothè4 fük3rs what have you done for arsenal?How the hell you bashed king Henry??Eden Hazard has left Chelsea look Chelsea fans love the guy.Henry won us titles after titles and you bas5ards are calling him a Judas.Auba is no way near to Henry in fact he stayed because of the money and king Henry never wanted big money,He truly love arsenal they even bashed viera,my god who are this people.Viera and Henry done much more than Ozil and xhaka. Mothè4 fuk3ers you like xhaka and Ozil who are this people they are not even in the list of 50 best players of arsenal oh sorry 100.Those who bashed Henry and viera are b8tch and don't understand anything about arsenal.