As a manager for more than 20 years, Arsene Wenger is bound to have missed out on the signing of some players. However, the Frenchman was still able to make Arsenal a top side again when he became their manager in the 90s.
He built solid teams and he famously led his side to the 2003/2004 Premier League title, which they won unbeaten.
While he was able to sign the likes of Thiery Henry and Patrick Vieira, he also missed out on the signing of a certain Lionel Messi.
Cristiano Ronaldo is another player that the Frenchman missed out on signing and he recently gave more details into how he came very close to signing the former Real Madrid attacker.
Speaking to The Guardian he revealed that he did miss out on signing several players when he was Arsenal’s manager, but Ronaldo is probably the closest.
He claimed that they had an agreement with Sporting Lisbon, but Carlos Queiroz became a coach at Manchester United and the Red Devils signed the Portuguese superstar.
Wenger said: “Oof! I would say there is not one player, there are 50 [I regret not signing]!”
“On the other hand, maybe the closest was Cristiano Ronaldo, when he signed for Man United.
“We had an agreement with Sporting and Man United took Carlos Queiroz as assistant coach, and they just outbid us quickly and took Ronaldo. But we had an agreement basically.
“He had the shirt of Arsenal, I had lunch with him and his mother at the training ground!
“It’s one example but there were so many. The history of a big club is full of missed great players!”
