Arsene Wenger gave his last interview as an Arsenal manager. The Frenchman speaks to club TV, recalling some curious moments during his 22-year stay with “gunners.”

One of the interesting topics was for the big stars of world football Wenger attempted to attract to Arsenal, but failed.

“The first one to come to mind is Cristiano Ronaldo, who was here with his mother, and we were very close, when Manchester United came and at that time worked with Carlos Keirosh.” United with Sporting and Ronaldo was extraordinary. they came to us, we were at £ 4.5m and we were still negotiating David Dean met with Jorge Mendes in Paris so we were very close But United offered 12 million that we could not afford.

I met with the parents of Cesc Fabregas. At that time, we were also interested in Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique. Of course, we tried to attract all three, but we failed … because of the agents. Barcelona did not want to lose Messi and did the job to keep him in the club, “Wenger recalls.