Iconic Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger once tried to sign a Chelsea star when the player was at Manchester City and even called him “one of the best players of his generation”.
Arsene Wenger’s best signings as Arsenal manager
Wenger transformed the Gunners after arriving at Highbury in 1996, guiding the club to a historic ‘Invincible’ season and taking them to the Emirates Stadium before eventually leaving Arsenal following 22 years in charge.
Champions League football was consistently on the table in north London following regular top four Premier League finishes, which allowed Wenger to sign some exciting players during his tenure, utilising the European market.
Arsene Wenger’s top Arsenal signings in pictures
Talking to Sir Mo Farah about his best piece of transfer business in north London, Wenger named midfield captain Patrick Vieira as one of his greatest signings.
“It depends. If you look at it financially you could say many, many, many. Maybe the credibility I got first was for the first player I brought in which was Patrick Vieira.
“People questioned ‘why do they employ Wenger?’ and after of course we have the following with Petit, Henry, Overmars. [Dennis] Bergkamp was already there, Anelka. You have so many players, you have Kolo [Toure], Lauren. But I think just the first players you bring in you are always judged on.
“After we have so many players. People never speak about Van Persie or Fabregas who were exceptional players. Van Persie scored 96 [league] goals for Arsenal, not far from Ian Wright. Of course Thierry is 175, I think.”
However, the Frenchman has been known to name numerous legends of the game who he tried to sign while at Arsenal, so many so that you can make a world-class XI of near transfer misses.
Player
From
GK: Gianluigi Buffon
Parma
RWB: Federico Valverde
Penarol
CB: Gerard Pique
Barcelona
CB: Vincent Kompany
Anderlecht
CB: Raphael Varane
Lens
LWB: Gareth Bale
Southampton
CM: Yaya Toure
Beveren
CM: Paul Pogba
Man Utd
FW: Lionel Messi
Barcelona
FW: Luis Suarez
Liverpool
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo
Sporting CP
Arsene Wenger tried to sign Chelsea star Jadon Sancho from Man City
In 2019, Wenger also admitted that he tried to sign Jadon Sancho for Arsenal while the winger was at Manchester City as a teenager.
As we know, Sancho would return to England by signing for Manchester United in a £73m transfer from Borussia Dortmund, and he has since gone on to swap Old Trafford for Stamford Bridge.
Talking about the England international when he was on the books in Germany with Dortmund, Wenger said he tried to tempt Sancho with a move to London.
Sancho’s Transfermarkt valuation was at a career-high €130m in 2020 at the age of 19, but after failing to catch the eye on a regular basis back in the Premier League, that has fallen considerably.
The Englishman still has plenty of time to get his career back on track, and who knows, in the future, Sancho could end up moving across London to Arsenal, following in the footsteps of Willian, David Luiz, Petr Cech and Raheem Sterling.
