Friday, 16th November, 2012
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that the Gunners were in for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he chose to join Dutch giants Ajax when he moved from Swedish side Malmo.
The Gunners had invited Ibrahimovic over to England when he was 16 years old and the striker looked around the training ground.
Wenger’s men were keen to take him on trial, although Ibrahimovic was not willing, due to his tender years.
Nevertheless, Arsenal kept a close eye on his progress, though Wenger admits they ultimately lost out to Ajax in the race to snap him up.
"He came here to visit the training ground", explained the Frenchman to Arsenal’s official site.
"He didn’t want to make a trial because he was 16 years old at the time. He went home and we concluded to watch him again.
"I wanted to see him in training but it didn’t stop him from making a great career. In the end, he chose to go to Ajax Amsterdam.
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"That happens. He’s not the only one in that case."
Ibrahimovic signed for Ajax in 2001 at the age of 19, remaining with the Dutch giants until 2004, when he was sold to Juventus.
The Swede has since gone on to become one of the best players in the world and made a big money switch to Paris Saint-Germain this summer from AC Milan.
He netted all four goals in Sweden’s 4-2 win over England earlier this week, with the fourth an astonishing overhead kick from 35 yards, which looped into the net and has been saluted as the "goal of the decade".
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