Three star players Arsenal narrowly missed out on

Over the course of their transfer spending spree in the last decade, the Gunners have missed out on a lot of players thanks to Arsene Wenger’s reluctance at not shelling that extra fiscal ramification for a player available. The former French Economics professor values every penny and hardly shells out money to makes a rash signing, given the odd rare one, and is always confident in his belief to get the best of the squad in the very testing of times. While the Gunners have under-performed in the past eight years, considering their trophy drought, the London outfit are finally setting the pace in this Premier League Campaign.

The Gunners are currently at the summit of the table, a point ahead of frightening Manchester City, and are perhaps capable of going all the way unless their wafer thin squad is stretched to the limit. Today we here at Soccersouls decided to provide our readers with three players over the past years that the Gunners narrowly missed out. As they say, “So near, yet so far.”

3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimovic in an Arsenal Jersey

Not many people know that the PSG star was scheduled to have a trial at Arsenal when he was just a 16 year old teenager. However, Ibra allegedly told Wenger that ‘he doesn’t do trials’ after being invited to Highbury in 2000. Zlatan eventually joined Ajax, and later went on to play for Inter, Barcelona and AC Milan, winning titles at each of his destination.

Wenger, though, insists he doesn’t look back ruefully on the day the Swede got away. The Frenchman said, “He was here at the training ground and went somewhere else. Ibrahimovic was here. It however didn’t mean not mean he would have signed for us.”

“The story is true I wanted to see him. I did not know him, you cannot sign players you have not seen at all because it is not serious. He was 16. I asked him to have a little training session with the first team, and he didn’t want to do it.”

2. Gonzalo Higuain

Gonzalo Higuain (R)

The Argentine who joined Napoli from Real Madrid was on Arsenal’s radar before Rafael Benitez snapped him up. Earlier reports by major tabloids claim Arsene Wenger had a 23m deal reached for Higuain before Napoli’s interest sky rocketed the price. Higuain however beats a different tone, claiming he is grateful to have join Napoli.

He said, “I am very grateful to Napoli, to the president, too, for everything he has done for me, and for everything he did to buy me quickly. Knowing how much I was wanted gave me a lot of confidence. The manager spoke very well to me too. He is one of the reasons that convinced me to come. He is a sincere person, an honest person. The things he said have to remain between us, but he made it a very easy decision.”

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Ballon D’Or winner was on Wenger’s list and was minutes away from penning a contract on the dotted lines of an Arsenal contract before former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz snapped him up for the Red Devils. Wenger had revealed that the Portuguese dynamite had a week long trial at the London club but didn’t sign a deal as expected. Wenger still claims he (Ronaldo) has a number nine shirt at Arsenal.

Wenger said, “He was very close to coming here. What happened was that Carlos Queiroz went to Manchester United and they snapped him away from us because he knew him from Sporting. That’s what life is about. You give your best but sometimes you might find that people are stronger than you. That can happen as well.”