Despite being quite pleased with the summer transfer window just gone from an Arsenal point of view, even though we are yet to see how the two late signings Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi do in the English Premier League, I was disappointed earlier in the summer when the Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who was available on a free transfer ended up signing for our EPL rivals Manchester United rather than the Gunners.
There were a lot of Arsenal transfer rumours linking us with him at the time but we never really found out for sure if Arsene Wenger was even in the running for the hugely successful centre forward, Zlatan´s words this week in a Sky Sports report suggest not, as did Wenger´s suggestion some weeks ago that his age and the rigours of English football might work against the Swede.
Whether our boss tried to get him or not, it seems clear that he would have failed as Ibrahimovic made it clear that working again with Jose Mourinho, after they enjoyed trophy and title success in Italy with Inter Milan, was the major reason for his move to Old Trafford.
The 34-year old revealed that he did once nearly come to Arsenal but that was earlier in his career and before another occasion when he almost came to England to play for Man City. He did not mention any other EPL clubs trying to get him this year and I think he would have done if any had.
Zlatan said, “I was close to moving to the Premier League twice – once with Arsenal and then Manchester City.
“But it never happened and I don’t need to play in the Premier League.
“Mourinho is the mastermind, the masterbrain. He knows what he needs to do to win. I learned a lot from him at Inter.
“Who wouldn’t want to have Mourinho as manager?”
Erm, Eden Hazard maybe and quite few other members of last season´s Chelsea squad perhaps? So was Wenger right to not waste his time this summer trying to get Ibrahimovic to sign for Arsenal?