Former England midfielder says he almost signed for Arsenal, Thierry Henry tried to influence the deal

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Arsenal have famously missed out on some big-name midfield signings over the years.

Yaya Toure nearly signed for Arsenal before becoming a star at Manchester City, Arsene Wenger wanted N’Golo Kante at one point, while Ruud Gullit almost joined Arsenal a long time ago.

Now, another midfield player from Premier League history has claimed that he almost joined Arsenal.

Indeed, speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast, Jermaine Jenas has been discussing his career moves, and he says that when he was at Newcastle, at one point, he thought he was headed to Arsenal and Thierry Henry even tried to influence the deal.

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Thierry Henry tried to influence Jermaine Jenas to Arsenal

Jenas spoke about how he thought he was signing for Arsenal and how Thierry Henry tried to influence the move.

According to the midfielder, back in 2003, Henry and Jenas had a conversation at the PFA awards.

Jenas won the Young Player of the Year award that year, and Henry won the main award that year, and according to Jenas, Henry tried to butter him up a bit by telling him that the entire Arsenal team had voted for the midfielder to win his respective reward.

“I’ll be honest. I thought I was going to Arsenal at the time,” Jenas said.

“Arsene Wenger had been quite openly admiring of me. And then even at the end of the year when Young Player of the Year, I was speaking to Thierry.

“He won the main award and I won Young Player. And Thierry had mentioned, he said, the whole team voted for you to be Young Player of the Year. So you’re like, okay, I’m respected in the dressing room.”

Jermaine Jenas’ record vs Arsenal

Jenas never got his move to Arsenal, and, ultimately, he may have lived to regret not making this transfer.

Indeed, Jenas would eventually end up on the other side of north London, playing for Tottenham, but, throughout his career, the Gunners were a constant thorn in Jenas’ side.

Interestingly, Jenas had a terrible record against Arsenal, winning just two games against Arsenal in his career in 20 attempts.

Things could’ve worked out very differently for Jenas had he gone to Arsenal, but, in the end, he joined Tottenham and never quite fulfilled the potential he showed when he won that Young Player of the Year award all the way back in 2003.