The right-back looked set to leave the Emirates during the window having fallen well down the first-team pecking order.
It seemed as though the former Newcastle man would be heading back to France with Nice very keen on landing him on a cut-price deal.
But that switch fell through leaving Debuchy at Arsenal, where he remains a peripheral figure.
Now the 32-year-old has lifted the lid on exactly what happened with his proposed move to the Ligue 1 club.
He told L'Equipe: "I had met Julien Fournier, the general manager of the club, in June in Monaco.