Top 10 Players That Almost Signed For The Gunners

10. Samuel Eto'o

Chelsea's new signing Samuel Eto'o says he almost signed for Arsenal in 2000, but has no regrets over turning them down.  

The Cameroon International, who has been reunited with Jose Mourinho after joining on a free transfer from Anzhi Makhachkala in August, was struggling to break into the Real Madrid first team before joining Mallorca after a successful loan spell back in 2000. 

He revealed that Arsene Wenger was keen on his signature but Eto'o ended up playing underneath Luis Aragones. Eto'o said,

"I met Luis at a crucial moment in my life where I had to take the right direction - and thanks to him I did," Eto'o is quoted as saying by The Sun.

"I was about to sign that very afternoon at Arsenal and maybe I would have never been the player I am today. Luis picked me, then I ended up joining Barcelona.

"That decision changed everything."

9. Vincent Kompany

Before Kompany’s move to Manchester City, he was very much on the radar of the Arsenal scouting system. 

In 2006, Kompany was looking to move away from his boyhood club, Anderlecht. Arsenal made contact with both the club and the player’s agent, in order to enquire about his availability. 

According to Vincent Kompany’s agent, Arsene Wenger was extremely keen on buying the centre back, as a replacement for Sol Campbell. 

Instead, a £5.1 Million deal was struck with Hamburg, which eventually resulted in the Belgian moving to Manchester City.

8. Eden Hazard

Arsene Wenger recently claimed Arsenal were close to signing Eden Hazard back in 2012 only for Chelsea to steal him from their grasp - and the Frenchman's house. 

The Belgian International moved to Stamford Bridge for £32million at the start of last season from Ligue 1 club Lille. 

However, Wenger has claimed things could have been so different with Hazard close to agreeing a switch to North London. Arsene Wenger said,

"Yes, I wanted to take him, I had his agent at my home but again the barrier was financial and Chelsea made an effort that I couldn't make.

"He can be one of the players who grows into the Messi, Ronaldo stature if he continues to develop well."

7. Juan Mata

During the summer of 2011, with the sale of Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal were in a decent position to bring in another midfielder and Mata seemed like the perfect replacement.

Just like always, Arsene Wenger wasted months and months trying to get Mata's signature and in the end the player, although moving to London, went to the south side of the river.

South London rivals, Chelsea, were more than happy to pay a cheque for £24 million.

6. Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez almost signed for the Gunners in the Summer of 2013. Arsene Wenger sent a bid for £40,000,000.

The bid was rejected but Wenger went back with £40,000,001. Turns out that extra pound activated the release clause in Suarez's contract.

However, the Liverpool hierarchy didn't let him move to Arsenal because contracts mean nothing right?

 5. Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure was also closely linked with Arsenal from an extremely early age. The Ivorian midfielder took part in trials at Arsenal as a youth player, only to be denied a work permit. 

Toure's age paired with his relative anonymity as an International at the time, led to his patience running out and Toure decided to look for another club.

4. Xabi Alonso

Back in 2008, when Rafa Benitez was the manager of Liverpool. Benitez was looking to replace Xabi Alonso and thought England's Gareth Barry would be a nice fit.

Arsenal had agreed a £15 million deal for the Spanish midfielder and he was almost on his way to North London.

Unfortunately, the deal of Gareth Barry to Liverpool didn't go through and Alonso stayed at Liverpool.

3. Didier Drogba

Arsene Wenger revealed he once tried to sign Didier Drogba for Arsenal. Wenger had kept tabs on the development of the centre-forward earlier in his career, but a firm deal never materialised. Wenger said,

‘We were interested in him when he played in the French Second Division with Le Mans, before he went to Guingamp.
‘We went to watch him when he played in Le Mans a couple of times.
‘But it did not happen at the time.’

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

One of the most unbelievable things to ever happen to Arsenal in terms of transfers. At the age of 19 , Ibrahimovic was all set to join Arsenal for £3 million from Malmo FF until Arsene Wenger told him to first do a trial-match. Ibrahimovic revealed why he didn't join Arsenal in an interview; he said,

'It was a fantastic moment for me. Arsenal had a great team then and here was an Arsenal shirt made just for me.

'So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didn't even try.

'He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, "I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial".

'I couldn't believe it. I was like, "No way, Zlatan doesn't do auditions".

'I thought: "You either know me or you don't and if you don't know me you can't really want me".

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Apparently, Arsene Wenger had a fee of £4m agreed for Cristiano Ronaldo and had his Arsenal shirt prepared.

Then, Lisbon played Manchester United in 2003 to open their new stadium. Ronaldo had a storming game and won Sporting the game with a won 3-1.

His brilliant performance caught the eye Alex Ferguson and he bidded a staggering £11m for his service.