Former Arsenal Wenger: "Not many people have rejected Real Madrid twice"
Arsène Wenger, former coach of Arsenal, claimed that he rejected Real Madrid twice during his time at the English club, even though he knew he was in a team without the resources to win the championship.
The French coach gave an interview to the BBC in which he spoke about the clubs he rejected coaching during his years at Highbury and named Real Madrid as the one that came closest to signing him.
"Probably Real Madrid, because you don't know many people who have rejected them twice. And it was to stay in a team that didn't have the resources to win the championship. I told myself that if I was going to take on the challenge of managing Arsenal, I would do it until the end," Wenger explained.
Arsène Wenger would have signed Cristiano Ronaldo for Arsenal
Regarding which players he would have liked to sign during his time at Arsenal, Wenger chose Cristiano Ronaldo and said that if he had played with Thierry Henry, Pirés, Wiltord and Bergkamp, they might have scored more than 200 goals in a season.
In addition, Wenger also recalled that he invited a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic to a trial with Arsenal, although he later decided not to sign him.
"I don't regret it because he was a 17-year-old boy playing for Malmö in the second division in Sweden and no one knew him. We gave many opportunities to players like him and it was completely normal before we made a decision," he pointed out.
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