Jadon Sancho has become the latest player in the long line of world class talent that Arsene Wenger has admitted he tried and failed to sign whilst at Arsenal.
Wenger's achievements at Arsenal have at times been overshadowed by the years in which he wasn't successful towards the end of his tenure.
Equally the Frenchman has become a bit of a figure of fun for talking about players he nearly, but didn't, sign. Speaking to beIN Sports on Tuesday night he added Sancho to that list, saying, "I wanted to take him from Man City when he didn't get the games.
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"I tried to lure him because he's from London. I tried to get him to Arsenal."
City signed Sancho in 2015, aged just 14, from Watford and when he decided to leave Pep Guardiola's side in 2017 it looked like he would move back to London.
Instead Borussia Dortmund paid £8 million for the teenager who'd never made a senior appearance for City, a decision that has worked out for both player and club.
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The 19-year-old now joins a long list of world class talent who Wenger has claimed at one time or another he tried to, or could have, signed for the Gunners.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, N'Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez are amongst them whilst Yaya Toure had a trial with the north London side and Zlatan Ibrahimovic famously turned one down.
Speaking in 2012 Ibra said, "Arsene gave me the famous red and white jersey - the No 9 shirt with Ibrahimovic on it and I was so pleased I even posed for a picture wearing it. It was a fantastic moment for me. So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didn't even try. He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, 'I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial'. I couldn't believe it. I was like, 'No way, Zlatan doesn't do auditions.'"
Sancho has become one of the leading talents in Europe for Dortmund and for the England national team and would go for a lot more than the Germans paid for him, were he to become available.
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Speaking about how good the forward is Wenger added, "He's one of the best players of his generation. He can dribble, he has the arrogance.
"There's something in there that is part of the big players. You can call it arrogance, confidence, belief; but it has to be there."
Sancho continued to impress on Tuesday as he scored twice in England's 5-3 win against Kosovo in a Euro 2020 qualifier.
Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Transfer rumours, Arsene Wenger, Premier League, England, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Transfer news, Jadon Sancho