Premier League club Arsenal could’ve signed Ivorian striker Didier Drogba for as little as 100,000 pounds seven years ago, according to a report.
Arsenal take on Chelsea in the semi-finals of the FA Cup later on Saturday. Addressing the media at a press conference on Friday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed that he had the chance to sign Drogba when he was only 24 years of age and also said that he regrets that he didn’t sign him.
Wenger said:
“We watched Drogba very carefully when he was at Le Mans and his value was just £100,000. But we felt at the time he might not be completely ready.
“Sometimes when you watch a striker playing in a scrappy Championship game you can think ‘yes, he has something but… ’.And don’t forget we had Thierry Henry at that time.
“We continued to follow his progress but suddenly he moved to Guingamp, then to the club of his dreams at Marseille and then on to Chelsea.
“Looking back now, of course it was a mistake.
“But it is not just us who now have regrets. There were a lot of other clubs watching him then.”