Arsene Wenger has admitted that Dimitri Payet is yet another player he was scouting a few years back but did not sign.
Payet has been in tremendous form, scoring 12 goals and providing eight assists in all competitions this season, which has helped his team challenge for the top four spots in the Premier League.
“I looked at him many times. I’ve know him for a long, long time,” Wenger was quoted as saying by Goal.com. “He played a few years in St Etienne. He has all the attributes to be a top, top player. In fact he already is.”
His performances in the FA Cup have also helped the Hammers reach the quarterfinal stage of the tournament, where they are set to play Manchester United in a second leg replay at Upton Park.
“This season he has matured a lot, he is back in the national team, and that shows he has been much more consistent. He always had top talent, but had periods where was up and down,” Wenger further said.
Wenger has missed out on a string of quality players
Wenger is well known for his policy of scouting players out of nowhere, and bringing them up to stardom at Arsenal. The likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera, Fredrik Ljungberg, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, and many more are all finds of the Frenchman.
However, Wenger has also reportedly missed out on signing a number of top players when they were young in the process. According to reports, he was on the verge of signing stars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Yaya Toure, Paul Pogba, Roberto Carlos, Gerard Pique, Vincent Kompany, and even Joe Hart, when all these players were young. Now he can add Dimirti Payet to that list as well.
One can only imagine what the Arsenal lineup would have looked like, had he signed all or at least some of them in their younger days.
