They say that life gives you only one chance to achieve glory and if you decide to let go, you shall be left repenting for the rest of your time. If any person has realised this philosophy now, it should be none other than the man who has from time after time repeated the same mistake. In the past he has admitted that he could have got Drobga, Mata, Ronaldo, Cech and the latest in the list includes Gareth Bale. It’s not something to boast about, imagine what a team Arsenal would have had if all the afore mentioned players were signed by him.
Wenger has recently spoken to The Sun where he has admitted that back in 2006 he had the opportunity to sign Southampton academy product Gareth Bale, who is making all sorts of headlines in the football world right now. Wenger became sceptical at that moment to include another left-back, the position that Bale played at that time, to the team for it would mean yet another addition in the same position that already boasted the likes of Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy.
Quoted in The Sun, Wenger said: ‘We didn’t take him as we had Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy and didn’t want another left-back.
‘I must confess it was a huge mistake as he can play in midfield. He struggled at the start at Tottenham, then they moved him to midfield and he has done exceptionally well.
‘The career of a player sometimes depends on playing in the right position.’
In Wenger’s defence it can be stated that Bale was never comfortable in the left back position and the signs of him being a giant of a player did not appear then. But Arsenal instead chose to sign another Southampton starlet, the extremely talented kid, Theo Walcott, for a fee of £5m. Walcott, it must be mentioned, has lived upto his title of “wonderkid” and now is a vital part of both the Gunners and the England squad. (although some of you may not accept this line completely, but you cannot overlook a player who just had the best season of his career)
But it is not hard to imagine what would have happened if Wenger had gone ahead with the signing of Bale at that time, who has now won both the PFA Player of the Year and the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
For starters, it can be said with utmost confidence that their eight years drought of a trophy would have definitely ended with Bale in the midfield. (sounds a bit cliched? well, bare with me) It would have been a salivating prospect just to see Bale and Robin Van Persie complement each other in the attack and create a successful partnership.
With such a notorious reputation behind them, probably Arsenal would have also been forced to sell Bale to a superior club, like Spurs are being made to do today, but again a £60m deal would have done wonders to the club coffers. Bale would have ran this year’s Arsenal transfer saga linking them with Real Madrid.
But then, life only gives you one chance and at that moment, Spurs decided to take it, shelling out a transfer fee as low as £5m, and now are trying to hold all their cards in an attempt to stop Madrid luring away their super star.
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