Cristiano Ronaldo:
Another huge star Arsenal nearly signed. The Real Madrid superstar had a tour of Arsenal’s training ground in 2003, where he was impressed by Wenger’s approach. However, the Gunners failed to get the deal done and Ronaldo signed for Manchester United instead with United’s assistant manager Carlos Queiroz using his Portuguese influence in the deal.
“He was very close to coming here,” Wenger said in 2014. “He has a No 9 shirt with Ronaldo on the back from Arsenal Football Club. What happened was that Carlos Queiroz went to Manchester United and they snapped him away from us because he knew him from Sporting.”