A former Tottenham Hotspur player has now claimed that he nearly signed for Arsenal to replace Patrick Vieira in the past.
Arsene Wenger was of course the manager at the time, a man who definitely knew how to find the best talent in the transfer market.
Mikel Arteta and his team aren’t too shabby these days themselves when it comes to talent identification either, just look at how well Kai Havertz is now playing after his Chelsea malaise.
That being said, former Spurs man Jermaine Jenas has now been telling a story of how he nearly found himself playing for Arsenal when he learned of Arsene Wenger’s admiration.
Jenas was speaking on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’ and was reflecting on several opportunities he didn’t take in his career.
And the former Tottenham player, who made 202 appearances at the club, said he was close to being Arsenal’s Patrick Vieira replacement when he went to Juventus.
Former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas nearly replaced Patrick Vieira at Arsenal
Speaking on the podcast, Jenas said even the likes of Martin Keown were encouraging a move.
He shared: “Arsene Wenger, he’s a lovely guy. Because I nearly went to Arsenal when I left Newcastle. I thought it was going to Arsenal at that time.
“He was quite vocal. Vieira was about to leave to go to Juve and he always used to say he was an admirer of mine.
“When I won Young Player of the Year, Martin Keown said everyone in our dressing room voted for you so I thought there was half a chance of going to Arsenal here and at that time Wenger was basically Pep Guardiola.
“I said why didn’t you buy me and he said I should have bought you when you left Forest.
“I thought you had Cesc Fabregas coming through so I think you were alright!
“But it was a timing issue with the amount of money that they could spend at the time and it just didn’t happen.”
No regrets
From an Arsenal point of view, there’s probably not too many regrets that the former Tottenham man didn’t come in to replace Vieira.
Arsenal never really filled that void, despite the efforts of the likes of Mathieu Flamini, Abou Diaby, Alex Song and more.
But similarly, Jenas never really quite hit the heights he may have hoped in his own career either.
All that being said, former Arsenal great Gilberto Silva has now been urging the club to buy a £100m Brazilian.