Former England international says Arsenal tried to sign him when he left Man City

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Arsenal have had their fair share of transfer near misses over the years.

Indeed, Arsenal have come close to signing a number of very talented players in their time.

Federico Valverde nearly joined Arsenal as a youngster before he became a star at Real Madrid, Clarence Seedorf could’ve signed for Arsenal, while Thomas Lemar nearly signed for Arsenal a few years ago.

Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, Shaun Wright-Phillips has now claimed that Arsenal wanted to sign him at one point when he left Manchester City.

Indeed, the winger says that Arsenal were actually the first team that tried to sign him when he was leaving City, but, ultimately, he went to Chelsea.

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Arsenal wanted Shaun Wright-Phillips

Wright-Phillips spoke about leaving Manchester City.

The former England international says that Arsenal came in for him, but City accepted a deal from Chelsea so he headed to Stamford Bridge instead.

“City was going into administration, which I didn’t know. So when they first asked me, my agents, I just said, no, I’m fine. I’m happy where I am, sort of thing,” Wright-Phillips said.

“I just kind of just left it like that. But the first conversation that came in was that Arsenal were interested in buying you. And I was just like, they said, they’ll let me know a bit more.

“And I just carried on playing football. And then the longer it went on, they said, they don’t want you until January. But it didn’t, it didn’t bother me because I wasn’t thinking about moving anyway.

Yeah, my heart was set on staying with City. So I didn’t think about it. It’s just like, it’s nice.

“I take it as a compliment sort of thing. And just wanted to just get better and better. And then Chelsea came in and they just said, right, deal’s been accepted.”

Shaun Wright-Phillips stats for Chelsea

Wright-Phillips was very hot property in the mid-2000s.

Indeed, Chelsea paid £21m to sign the winger from City, and that was a lot of money at the time.

Chelsea beat Arsenal to the signing of Wright-Phillips, but it’s fair to say that the Gunners didn’t miss out massively here.

Indeed, while there would have been some real sentimental value around Ian Wright’s son coming to Arsenal, Wright-Phillips wasn’t necessarily a great signing for Chelsea at that price.

Instead, Arsenal signed a young, speedy winger of their own the next summer in the shape of Theo Walcott.

Walcott would go on to be rather successful with Arsenal, posting up much better numbers than Wright-Phillips did at Chelsea.

Wright-Phillips was a fantastic player for City during his heyday, but it’s fair to say that Arsene Wenger may not have lost much sleep over missing out on this signing.