Arsene Wenger is a man who has written his name into Arsenal legend with three Premier League titles, one unbeaten season and seven FA Cups – so it is weird to think that it could have still been better.
But given the high-profile names that the Frenchman came close to signing for the Gunners throughout his time at the club, it really could have been.
We’ve compiled an XI of high-profile players who apparently nearly signed for Arsenal during Wenger’s reign, arranged in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
GK: Gianluigi Buffon
One of the greatest goalkeepers in modern history, Buffon snubbed a move to Arsenal while still a Parma player before joining Juventus in a €52million move back in 2001.
“I remember when I was 20 years old in 1998 I had dinner once with Wenger from Arsenal,” Buffon told BT Sport in 2016.
Given how well Jens Lehman and David Seaman served the club across the same period, it is a move that probably does not sting as much as others.
But you can bet Gunners fans would still love to have seen the Italian legend in an Arsenal shirt.
RB: Gerard Pique
Not your conventional right-back but, unfortunately for this list, Wenger never seemed to miss out on any high-profile ones. So we will have to make do with Pique.
Back when Wenger brought Cesc Fabregas to Highbury, he wanted to add Pique to the mix, along with another attacker who I don’t think ever amounted to much.
“We wanted to take [Cesc] Fabregas, [Lionel] Messi and Pique. It worked only for Fabregas,” the Frenchman told Sport.es.
Pique later moved to Manchester United but returned to Barcelona after four years in England. He’s not done too badly since then…
CB: Raphael Varane
Considering how badly Arsenal struggled to find quality centre-backs for so long, this one may sting more than most.
Wenger found so much success in his early years as Arsenal manager in the French market, picking out rough diamonds, polishing them, and turning them into special players.
But that had waned slightly by the time Varane started to make a name for himself.
“He was at Lens, and we might well have caught him there,” Wenger wrote for Eurosport.
“Yet at the same time, when you are in charge of a club like Arsenal, you have to wonder why this player is not playing for us.”
Read: A tribute to Nicolas Anelka at Arsenal, one of the best transfers ever
CB: Vincent Kompany
Back in 2006, Wenger identified Kompany as a potential replacement for Sol Campbell but Hamburg won the race…
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