Arsene Wenger: I Tried To Sign Jadon Sancho From Manchester City

By The Editor
on 14th February 2019

Arsene Wenger has added another start to the list of the ones that got away…

Jadon Sancho was a transfer target for Wenger!#beINUCL #beINWenger pic.twitter.com/BrFp5TnA58

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 13, 2019

Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest player who slipped through his grasps as Arsenal manager while doing his punditry work for beIN SPORTS – none other than teenage sensation Jadon Sancho.

Wenger has often openly stated that he was first to spot some of the world’s best players only for the moves to fail for various reasons – mainly due to the Frenchman’s reluctance to pay the asking price.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kyliann Mbappe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are among the names Wenger says were close to joining us, but the case of Sancho is an interesting one.

The 18-year-old is from London and grew up with Reiss Nelson with the two beginning their friendship in primary school. Sancho signed or Manchester City while Nelson joined us and in the summer of 2016, the former had an unprecedented decision to make.

Sancho, despite the arrival of Pep Guardiola, decided to seek a permanent move abroad and joined Borussia Dortmund in the hope of experiencing more first-team football. The England international hasn’t looked back, starring for the Bundesliga league leaders and racking up the assists.

However, Wenger stated that we made a play for Sancho to head back down south to join us, though he didn’t reveal why the move failed to materialise.

“I wanted to take him from Man City when he didn’t get the games,” Wenger said.

“I tried to lure him because he’s from London. I tried to get him to Arsenal. He’s one of the best players of his generation. He can dribble, he has the arrogance.

“There’s something in there that is part of the big players. You can call it arrogance, confidence, belief; but it has to be there.”

If one was to hazard a guess, Wenger probably didn’t want to pay the huge compensation fee it would’ve taken to bring Sancho to Arsenal, especially for a 16-year-old talent.

But, hey, Sancho is now another player out of our price range who’ll probably return to join one of our rivals instead. Oh, the joys of being a Gooner!