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Wenger on £100m striker: “I was at his home trying to sign him”

By on May 4, 2017

According to quotes in the Evening Standard, Arsene Wenger has revealed he came close to signing Kylian Mbappe last summer and confirmed he’ll try again this year to land the £100m-rated Monaco sensation.

Mbappe has become one of the world’s most in-demand players after enjoying a breakthrough season with Monaco that’s seen him capture the attention of every big club in Europe.

The 18-year-old has scored 24 goals and provided a further 11 assists to help fire Monaco to the semi-finals of the Champions League and stay on course to winning the Ligue 1 title.

It appears Arsenal knew of Mbappe’s potential long before he burst on to the world stage as Wenger has revealed that he was at the strikers house last summer trying to lure him to north London.

The youngster was out-of-contract so we could have snapped him up for a minimal compensation fee and Arsene says Mbappe was very close to joining Arsenal before deciding to remain in France and sign a new contract with Monaco.

It turned out to be a good decision by the teenager as he’s now the most sought after player in the world and Wenger has confirmed that Arsenal are still in the running to try and sign him this summer.

However, with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United also vying for his signature this time around, Mbappe is going to cost a fortune with the Daily Mail claiming recently that Monaco will demand a world record £100m fee for their star man.

Wenger is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard:

“The player would tell you that I was at his home last year to try to get him here. 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? I don’t know, that’s down to him. You know certainly as I do that today 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 is his deep aspirations but maybe the best thing for him is to stay one more year at Monaco.”

Robert Pires recently tipped Arsenal to win the race for Mbappe’s signature but I’m far less optimistic as there is so much competition and I don’t see how the club can afford to compete at the numbers being suggested.

Let’s hope I’m wrong though as he would be a sensational signing if we could somehow lure him to north London, although I have a feeling we’ll only have any hope of landing him if Wenger stays as manager.

Question: Would you welcome Wenger staying as manager if it meant signing Mbappe? Or would you happily miss out as long as Arsene left the club?