I know it’s a big “What If”, but according to Arsene Wenger we came so close to signing Kylian Mbappe last summer that Le Prof even went to visit the young French striker at his home to try and tip the balance in Arsenal’s favour. This is how Wenger described it. “The player would tell you that I was at his home last year to try to get him here,” Wenger told beIN SPORTS. “Because he was at the end of [his] contract but Monaco managed to keep him and the decision was very, very tight.
“But I could understand it as well because he was educated there and at the end decided to stay there.”
“Can Arsenal get him (now)? I don’t know, that’s down to him,” Wenger continued. “You know as well as I do that he will decide where he goes and say: Real Madrid? Maybe. Barcelona? Maybe. Arsenal? Manchester? He can go where he wants.
“So I don’t know what his deep aspirations are but maybe the best thing for him is to stay one more year at Monaco.”
I still find it hard to believe that we nearly actually bought a bona-fide super striker. The youngster has scored 30 goals in 39 games for Lyon this season, and surely if he had done that for Arsenal we would be further up the table and maybe challenging for the title…
Yet another one that got away from Wenger….
Admin
No -next
Sure, guaranteed that mbappe under wenger .
30 goals for Lyon Admin ?
He would have been on the beck with Perez here or playing for the under 21/23 s
No because Wenger is in charge
At least your name is intellect.
Since we lost David Dein we have missed out on lots of players. Gazidas doesnt know what he is doing. Neither does Wenger of course.
The question is “Would Arsenal be in title hunt if we had secured Mbappe?”
Where should I begin?
Mbappe
Lacazette
Higuian
Aubameyang
Cavani
Lukaku
Sturridge
Ibrahimovic
Icardi
The answer is yes, he would made a difference….possibly a significant difference. Off the top of my head, the above strikers were all available last summer and there were rumours that we were sniffing around them. What did we end up doing? We bought Perez and for whatever reason we haven’t played him. We experimented with playing Sanchez up front for a third of the season (with some success) and now he’s been forced out wide and the goals have dried up. And… to add insult to injury, we were turned down by Jamie feecking Vardy. LoL
You forgot dybala
I also forgot Benzema and Morata!
No, No and No. they wouldn’t.
Wenger went to persuade the player, that is good and all, but unless someone goes and persuades the owners and the agent by throwing money at them well then it’s a non start from the beginning. Wenger tried to get him before he signed another contract, not sure what he had left on it but him signing it shouldn’t have deterred us unless we wanted him on the cheap.
Wenger might have been trying to get better acquainted with him so he has a relationship to build upon, he might be hoping for it to help us get him further down the road. Telling Mbappe to stay another year is showing him he cares about the players future. I’m not sure Conte, Moh, or Pep would go that route, if they wanted him and really believed he was destined for greatness they’d put their money where their mouth is. Wenger might have been too hesitant and ultimately surprised at how quickly he’s come on, regret, you’d think he’d have learned by now, he’s not decisive enough.
The board are not blameless. At-least there was effort on Arsene’s part no matter how futile, the board could’ve said right then, he really wants this kid sure he’s visiting the family home, so lets make this happen whatever it takes.
“…unless we wanted him on the cheap.”
Of course we did! It’s always “On the cheap” with Wenger & Gazidis.
Sure, he would singlehandedly have prevented all the goals scored against us….
Players stagnate under Wenger who has no tactical skill or ability to motivate.
You could have the best from around the world in all positions and we would fail to win a thing.
The team is led by the manager – it reflects his attitude and ambitions.
That is why Arsenal are so poor – a poor manager..
….Even if Wenger signed Mbappe, everyone would have said he went for another young french talent instead of using big money
Mbappe is not all that, let’s move on.
We still have Welbeck and he will be in full force next season.