Arsene Wenger has recently admitted that passing on Sterling when he was a youngster at QPR was a mistake. He was speaking in quick succession to the match up against the said player at the Emirates Stadium where Arsenal clinged on to three points against a Yaya Toure inspired Manchester City.
“We had many players on the flanks, but when Sterling was at QPR – that’s where we should take the players,” the Frenchman said as he reflected on his decision to pass on Sterling.
“We watched him but you miss obvious players. The history of every club is full of top players that you missed. At the time Liverpool were quicker.”
The fact that Sterling moved to Manchester City for 50 million pounds has not gone unnoticed for Wenger as he lamented the fact that Liverpool were quick to pounce on the youngster in a cut price deal worth only 600,000 quid which is an absolute bargain considering the returns they received in just a little over two seasons since the youngster burst on the Premier League scene.
Arsenal have a whole catalogue of missed players which would in themselves make a dream team including illustrious names such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Petr Cech, Gareth Bale, Juan Mata and so on which might be slightly more embarrassing for Wenger than for other managers as he is considered to be the golden standard in sizing up and giving chances to the youth players and is highly paraded over the acquisitions of players like Thierry Henri, Nicolas Anelka, Freddie Ljundberg, Patrick Viera, Dennis Bergkamp and Cesc Fabregas.