Arsene Wenger has revealed Arsenal could have signed French wonderkid Kylian Mbappe last year, and attempted to secure his signature this summer before his loan move to Paris Saint-Germain materialised.

Mbappe scored 26 goals last season for Monaco as they were crowned French champions, they also reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. Regardless of their achievements, Mbappe has been thrown into the spotlight and branded as a global superstar – at the age of just 18.

The forward will spend this season on loan at rivals PSG before completing a £165m permanent move next summer. He admitted on Wednesday that he held talks in the summer with Arsenal over a proposed move, and Wenger insists that the club were close to securing the youngster.

“Well, I believe that we were on the case last year,” said Wenger.

“He was close to joining us, maybe closer last year than this year because the competition was a bit smaller than it is today.”

“I personally think for 90 per cent of players, their careers depend on where they choose to go. But for 10 per cent of players, they can choose where they want and they will make a great career.”

“He is in the 10 per cent. He can close his eyes and chose “I’ll go here, I’ll go there” to Madrid, to Arsenal, to Manchester United and he’ll have a great career, he’s an exceptional football player.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]

This seems like an all too familiar case of what might have been from Arsene.