Arsenal saw many players make moves to the north London club during Arsene Wenger’s reign in charge of the team.
One player that the Gunners were close to signing but ultimately didn’t that we feel would have been a transfer masterclass from the club and Wenger is Federico Valverde.
According to a recent report from AS (via Sport Witness), the north London club were on the verge of signing the Real Madrid star back in 2014 and even had a verbal agreement after previously scouting him.
After taking too long to get the deal done, his current club jumped in and did what they needed to do to get the Uruguayan out of Arsenal’s grasp.
With 157 senior appearances to his name for the Spanish club, the 24-year-old has scored 10 goals and delivered 10 assists, one of which coming during the previous Champions League final where he set up Vinicius Jr’s goal in the 1-0 win over Liverpool.
This season has seen the versatile midfielder score four goals and provide two assists in eight appearances across La Liga and the Champions League.
His league performances have earned Valverde an overall season rating of 7.41/10 from WhoScored, making him the fifth-highest rated player in Carlo Ancelotti’s squad.
This rating would put him as Arsenal’s third-highest rated player for this season by the same metric behind Gabriel Jesus (7.75/10) and Gabriel Martinelli (7.48/10).
This also justifies why Ancelotti described the midfielder, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £143k-per-week, as “untouchable” for his side.
Taking all of this into account, it’s safe to say that had Arsenal been able to secure a deal for Valverde when they had the chance, this could have been a super signing for Wenger to have made during his reign, especially if the player had been able to develop into the sort of figure that he now is for Real.
