Frenchman hints that Gunners chose Walcott rather than Welshman.
Arsene Wenger admits that Arsenal missed the chance to sign Tottenham superstar Gareth Bale when he was a teenager at Southampton.
The Frenchman also hinted that he chose to sign Theo Walcott, also a graduate from the famous Saints academy, rather than the Welshman but said he does not regret the decision.
“It was Walcott and Bale, and we were at some stage on (about) taking the two if possible, but we could get Walcott and I am very happy we got him,” he said.
“If I tell you the number of players we did not sign who we should have signed, you would be amazed, but it is the same for every single club, you miss players,” Wenger is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Bale turned in another stunning performance for Tottenham in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Lyon in the Europa League and the 23-year-old has now scored Spurs’ last six goals and boasts seven in five matches for club and country.
Wenger concedes the winger has made huge strides since he first watched him as a teenager on the South Coast but says talk of Bale in the same breath as Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo is premature.
“Bale has the potential to develop and become the players that you compare him to,” he said.
“However, Messi has won two or three Champions League, a few championships, scored 95 goals in a year, so let’s not go too quick. You are always very quick here, but let’s slow down a little bit.”
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