‘Best decision’: Rogerio Ceni claims he had Arsenal transfer chance early in career

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Last week saw former Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama suggest he had rejected a move to Arsenal earlier in his career. Now, it is the turn of a former Brazilian goalkeeping star to suggest the same. 

Rogerio Ceni, a legend of the Brazilian game and his former club Sao Paulo, has been commenting on his career to FourFourTwo magazine this week, as relayed by ESPN, where he revealed a potential move to Arsenal early in his career fell through. 

“I had some offers from European clubs. At the beginning of my career, some agents tried to take me to Arsenal, but the negotiations did not work out. Then there was more interest from Hannover and Deportivo La Coruña , but at that time the Brazilian currency was somewhat strong, so it would be more or less the same salary.

“I stayed at São Paulo and it was the best decision, because I now enjoy what I did for the club and the affection of all the fans.”

Indeed, a move to Arsenal for Ceni was mooted at one point. 

It was reported by Sky Sports that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was on the hunt for his David Seaman replacement. 

It came amid a news report where Wenger also confirmed the club had missed out on a deal to sign an out of contract Barcelona star, Pep Guardiola, who headed to Brescia instead. So this was nearly 20 years ago.

But Arsenal never made a move and signed the controversial and eccentric character that is Jen Lehmann in 2003 after the likes of Richard Wright, Stuart Taylor and Rami Shaaban had failed to dislodge the England legend. 

But in Ceni, Arsenal might have had an even bigger cult hero. 

Not only did the 16-cap star play over 1000 games for Sao Paulo, he also scored 131 goals as a free-kick and penalty-taking expert. 

As good as Seaman and Lehman both were for the Gunners, none of them can boast anything like that statistic.