[ad_1]
Arsene Wenger has revealed that Kylian Mbappé could have signed for Arsenal for free during his stay in North London.
Mbappé has been talked about as a long-term successor to Lionel Messi in the pantheon of soccer greats after his thrilling hat-trick on Tuesday night.
The 22-year-old, whose contract at Paris Saint-Germain expires at the end of next season, has been linked to a host of top-tier clubs, including Real Madrid and Liverpool, with his performance in the win for 4-1 of his team in the The first leg of his round of 16 tie with Barcelona intensifies the conversation.
However, everything could have been very different if Wenger had persuaded a talented young man to join him at Arsenal.
1:05
Sky Sports News’ Jamie Weir has the latest from the Premier League talks on the proposed changes to the Champions League group stage format and the two areas of concern raised by the Premier League
“We can talk about Mbappé, I was at his house when he was not determined to extend his contract with Monaco,” Wenger told beIN Sports. “I could have come to Arsenal for free. I would say that all clubs are full of stories like that.
“You go to Milan, Manchester, Arsenal, Chelsea, there are these kinds of stories everywhere.”
It’s not the first time Wenger has revealed that other superstars came close to joining the club, confirming stories about other players, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo is another who could have signed for Arsenal
“He [Ronaldo] he came very close to joining us, “Wenger added.” The bad luck for us was that Carlos Queiroz joined Man Utd [as assistant manager] and in a week he convinced [Sir Alex] Ferguson to buy Ronaldo. It was a good buy at the time.
“We wanted to make the trio of Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Piqué. They are a generation of 1987 that all played together. Piqué was playing in midfield at that time and in the end he decided to go to Man Utd, Fabregas accompanied us and Barcelona were the smart enough to keep Messi. “
Wenger: Arsenal offered Vardy a lot of money
3:02
FREE TO SEE: Highlights from Arsenal’s win against Leeds in the Premier League
Wenger also revealed that Arsenal offered Jamie Vardy “a lot of money” to sign for them in 2016, insisting that the Leicester forward would have been a great fit for the club.
After inspiring Leicester to a surprising title win in 2016, Vardy looked certain he would move to Arsenal, which had been Leicester’s main rival that season, the following summer.
However, such a move never materialized, as Vardy put pen to paper on a new contract at Leicester, where he remains one of the top scorers in each Premier League season. It wasn’t for lack of intent, at least on Wenger’s part.
“I offered him a lot of money at the time,” Wenger told beIN Sports. “Leicester had just won the championship at that point in 2016, and they absolutely did not want to lose it and offered him a longer contract with roughly the same money if not more.”
The magical Mbappé leaves Messi in the shade
Many Champions League nights at the Camp Nou have been about the irrepressible Messi, but, against PSG, he was truly overshadowed by Mbappé’s impressive performance.
Already in the second minute, the French striker scared the Barça defense with his rhythm and, from then on, every time he received the ball, he caused problems on Ronald Koeman’s side.
It was a performance that received special praise from Barça forward and international teammate Antoine Griezmann. “Kylian Mbappé had a great night,” he said. “PSG has a great star for the future, who will be at the level of Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.”
Sunday February 21 4:00 pm
Start 4:30 pm
In the absence of Neymar and Angel Di Maria, who were absent due to injury for PSG, Mbappé went on to produce three good finishes to become the third player to score a treble in the competition against Barcelona, after Faustino Asprilla for Newcastle and Andriy Shevchenko. for Dynamo Kiev (both in 1997) and the first player to score a hat-trick against the Spanish club in the knockout phase.
But on what was a really special night for PSG, he could have scored more goals had it not been for some good saves from Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
With 110 goals now to his name, the 22-year-old is already PSG’s third top scorer in all competitions, surpassing Pauleta (109). Now only Edinson Cavani (200) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (156) have scored more for PSG, but, if he stays at the club, those records won’t be intact for long.
He has also tied for Zinedine Zidane with eight goals on the Champions League knockout scorers list, with only Thierry Henry (12) and Karim Benzema (18) ahead.
The sky is the limit for Mbappé, who confirmed himself as the best young player in soccer with an astonishing performance that Messi himself would have been proud of.
[ad_2]
