Arsene Wenger didn't hesitate when naming the one player he most regrets not signing for Arsenal

Arsene Wenger did not hesitate in the slightest when asked to name the player he regrets not signing.

Wenger made a number of shrewd purchases and uncovered a whole lot of gems during his 22-year stint in charge of Arsenal.

Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Nwankwo Kanu, Marc Overmars and Kolo Toure are just some of his best transfer dealings.

But the Frenchman admitted that one of his few regrets was failing to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

Wenger was asked which player he would have liked to have in the coveted 2003/04 Invincibles squad and picked out the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

"It would be Ronaldo. He was playing for Manchester United back in 2004," Wenger told talkSPORT.

"He is one of the players I regret to have not signed, we were very close [to signing him]".

Ronaldo was signed by United in a £12.24 million switch from Sporting CP in 2003 off the back of a sensational performance against them in a friendly in Lisbon.

Arsenal were interested but the story goes that Sir Alex Ferguson was not leaving without having agreed a deal to sign Ronaldo, who was just 18 at the time.

Image: Getty

John O'Shea had been giving the runaround and United players were all in agreement that they ought to snap him up.

"He [O'Shea] was in bits and he was sitting there panting," Rio Ferdinand recalled as part of the 'Stay Home. Play Together' campaign by EA SPORTS and COPA90.

"We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn't even answer us.

"To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going 'this kid's unbelievable, we've got to sign him'.

"We got on the coach and we were delayed for about an hour and a half, and then they said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now."

United did the deal and Ronaldo went on to become one of the greatest to ever play the game.