Wenger did everything he could to persuade Kylian Mbappe and his parents that Arsenal was the best club for him, long before he signed his first professional deal.
In order to sign Kylian Mbappe to Arsenal, Arsene Wenger met with his parents behind their back at their home.
The legendary manager Wenger saw in Mbappe, who is also French, a young player with world-class promise. The kid was accepted into Clairefontaine, their national football center, just like Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka, who used to play forward for Arsenal.
Wenger knew how talented Mbappe was and personally begged for him to come to England. In 2013, he went back to France to talk to Mbappe’s parents, Fayza and Wilfried.
He talked about the conversation in the new BBC documentary Mbappe: “You know, at one point I tried to get him to come to Arsenal.” I was with his parents at their house. He was glad. He was really excited about football and just wanted to play it.
Wenger wasn’t the only one who was interested. But Julien Laurens, a French football writer, said that none of the big teams in Europe had a chance because he always planned to stay where he was.
“Sending Kylian to develop his game outside of France was never part of the plan,” Laurens said. “Clubs from all over Europe would tell him to come to us.” He could have gone to Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Manchester United, so it was never about the stature of the club. He finally decided to go with Monaco because they had a good school and good coaches.
After putting the world on fire at Monaco, Wenger didn’t give up on the future World Cup winner. He became interested in him again. In 2016, three years later, talks began again.
But again, his attempts failed, and he signed his first professional deal with Monaco. Gilles Grimandi, a former Arsenal star who is now a scout, called it “the biggest disappointment” of his 15 years in the job.
He had told Ladbrokes Fanzone before, “We met his parents in London, and they came to the training ground. Arsene and Richard Law, who was the transfer chief at the time, and I then went to the South of France to meet Kylian.”
“We tried to get him, and I think we were very close, but he turned down the project and signed a new deal with Monaco.” Not being able to get Kylian Mbappe to sign with Arsenal is probably the worst thing that has happened to me as a scout in 15 years.
Arsenal is once again interested in Mbappe, who just announced that he will be leaving PSG this summer. But it looks like he will sign with Real Madrid as a free agent. Real Madrid has been a fan of his for a long time.
