‘Arsenal came in’: PL winning goalkeeper says he almost joined the Gunners, they made a ‘ridiculous’ offer

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Speaking to Stadium Astro, Mark Schwarzer has been discussing how he almost signed for Arsenal back in 2010 after a Europa League run with Fulham.

Cast your mind back to 2010 and you’ll remember that Arsenal had a goalkeeping crisis on their hands.

Manuel Almunia, with all due respect, wasn’t good enough, Lukasz Fabianski hadn’t blossomed into the player he is today, while Wojciech Szczesny was nowhere near the first-team at that point.

Therefore, Arsenal needed an experienced stopper through the door, and according to Schwarzer, he very nearly signed for the north London club, but Roy Hodgson’s move to Liverpool scuppered the deal.

Schwarzer nearly joined Arsenal

The goalkeeper shared how close he came to a move to the Emirates.

“In 2010 I had the opportunity, Arsenal came in for me and Roy Hodgson rang me to say we had an offer from Arsenal and asked me if I wanted to go. I didn’t know what to say and I said to Roy in the end that it was an opportunity to contest for things and play for an elite club and of course I wanted to go,” Schwarzer said.

“I played in the World Cup, I thought everything was sweet and then Roy went to Liverpool. It went on for the whole summer and nothing was happening, so it got to the point I was trying to force the move through. I wanted to go, I was 37 years old. They were ready to pay £4m for me which is ridiculous for a 37-year-old. Fulham wanted £10m, Al Fayed was saying if they don’t pay £10m you’re not going. It was crazy.”

Got his glory

Schwarzer says that he wanted to contest for trophies and play for an elite club upon moving to Arsenal, and while he didn’t get that chance, he did eventually end up winning trophies elsewhere.

Indeed, despite not getting a move in his prime, Schwarzer did eventually make himself a two-time Premier League winner as the backup goalie with both Chelsea and Leicester City.

Regardless, We can’t help but wonder how Arsenal would’ve gotten on with Schwarzer in goal around this time as he was a downsight better than Almunia was at that point.