Left for £0, now worth £49.5m: Wenger had huge Arsenal howler on 29 y/o "maverick" - opinion

The post-Invincibles era under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal has become synonymous with transfer failures and near-misses, with the Frenchman having a hefty back catalogue of names that he claims to have come close to bringing to north London.

From Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – to name just a few – a whole host of high profile figures are believed to have been tantalisingly close to making the switch under Wenger’s watch, only for the club to narrowly miss out to other suitors.

Throughout his tenure, and since, Gunners supporters have had to listen to the veteran coach – who left his post in 2018 – frequently recount tales of these missed opportunities, with it somewhat unclear as to what the benefits are of dredging up old wounds.

One of those among the long list of names that slipped through his grasp was current Manchester United man Paul Pogba, the polarising midfielder having been the subject of interest from the Emirates outfit back in 2012.

At the time, the youngster was coming towards the end of his first spell at Old Trafford having refused to agree a new deal with the club, following his lack of first-team opportunities under Sir Alex Ferguson.

As his contract ran down, clubs began circling to try and snap him up on a free transfer, with the player eventually opting to move to Serie A giants Juventus.

Wenger subsequently revealed two years later that he had attempted to recruit the 6 foot 3 playmaker himself, although fell short in his pursuit.

As reported by the Telegraph, the serial-winning coach said of Pogba that: “As a footballer, he has everything. It is difficult to figure out what he doesn’t have. Things happened very quickly. We were interested in him. We tried to get him to come