Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the club made an approach to Monaco over exciting young forward Kylian Mbappe last summer, and said that the the 18 year old reminds him Thierry Henry.
The club’s record goalscorer began his career under Wenger at the French club, and Mbappe has caught the eye this season, scoring 13 goals so far as Monaco look to secure their first Ligue 1 title in 17 years.
Asked about him by a French reporter at his press conference earlier today, the Arsenal manager was full of praise for the youngster but worried that this much exposure so early in his career might prove harmful.
“Well, I approached him last year because I really believe that he has an exceptional future ahead of him, that he has all the qualities,” he said.
“He reminds me of a young Thierry Henry with the same clever look about him, the same qualities of intelligence in his movements and cat-like finishing. So that’s why.
“I think he’s an exceptional talent who promises to have a great future. Unfortunately today, all these young players are in full view from very, very early on and all the big clubs want them.
“I hope the fact that everybody is already talking of nobody but him isn’t going to have a negative impact on his future.”
Whether Arsenal go in for him again this summer remains to be seen. It’s going to be complicated by the managerial situation and the fact that he can probably pick and choose from countless top European clubs, but let’s see.
If he does decide to move, you’d hope we’re in there – especially given the likely departure of Alexis Sanchez at the end of the season.
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Thanks to Emma Grenville-Wood for the translation.
Can’t imagine he’ll want to come to Arsenal given the state we’ll be in at the end of the season. Going to be a shambolic summer
What ever happened to Arsenes encyclopaedic knowledge of talented young French players. When was the last good one we signed? We got Sanogo.
There’s been Greizman, Kante, Varane, Umtiti, Mbappe, payet, lloris, rabiot, dembele… the list is long
The difference is that now everyone is aware of them as much as we are. Then signing a player is a competition between clubs.
One might say that Arsene’s lost his edge. Shocker!
Koscielny and Giroud are the last good ones we signed.
Giroud wasn’t exactly unearthing a talented young player. He was top scorer for the title winning team
He has said in various press conferences that he’d spoken to many of those players but for many reasons (usually financial) nothing happened.
He gets grief if he pays much for a young unproven player but as soon as they’re proven then we couldn’t afford them, although maybe we could now.
Sanogo was ‘Free’ so we got him.
Most of them would be on Wenger’s “I almost signed them” list
Sign Jardim and ask him to convince this kid and Bernardo Silva to come with him
My money is on him joining United
Unrelated but
In light of Barca’s heroics last night, Arsene citing Barca’s 4-0 loss to justify our result seems pretty daft now.
Barca’s heroics?? #puke
Salamou alyiekom bro mouhammed 🙂
Not really. As you can see PSG also bowed out. Maybe they can point to a 4 nil win first leg but either way, they were non competitive at the Nou Camp. And that’s about right. As much as the media would like to make a meal out of it (and some fans), we know we can be competitive to PSG, Juventus maybe (as born out by us topping the group) but frankly there are 3 teams who are way ahead of us (and everyone) – Barca, Bayern and RMadrid. The more disappointing result for me is that we lost… Read more »
If Cavani hadn’t had a nightmare in our penalty box, PSG could easily have beaten us 10-2 over the two ‘legs’. And we could have had no complaints. They battered us in both games.
The more disappointing result for me is that we lost to Watford
Plucky underdogs that they are
Yes Suarez heroic diving.
Would be nice if we could begin building next seasons team already. Lets write of Alexis and Özil and sign people who are ready to fight and bleed for this club.
Also, i would like to see us extend with the Ox…
I’d like us to buy a Santi-type player. Like Isco?
…if we are talking about next season.
My ideal world would be Wenger signing for another season but going crazy for glory. Buying this Monaco kid, Lukaku, Di Maria, and somebody to tighten the defense. And in my ideal world, Wenger recaptures his desire to win the league and expect nothing less.
Anyway, that’s my dream!!!
If martial cost 38, can only imagine what they want for this guy.
87m
87 000 000.01 to be exact
In France, the media claim that Monaco would ask for 100M€.
Is this so he can say “we nearly signed him” after he inevitably ends up at Utd, City or Chelsea?
Right? We’re getting real cynical. I’m here thinking it’s a PR stunt, so when Alexis leaves and we sign this kid, he’s not an ‘unknown, another kid’ signing but a ‘look, he’s established, and a superstar’ signing to replace him.
Has AW ever been so eager to talk about a potential signing (in March too)? I can’t recall any.
this unknown kid is one of the best known young prospects in european football.
but anyway – he will end up at one of the top tier clubs, not arsenal.
I still remember the days when signing Hazard, Gotze, Drazler, Reus was the same as playing Chinese whispers.
wenger rarely ever talks about potential transfer targets in press conference . because theoretically talking about him will only increase the levarage of the seller club and they will end up paying whatever seller club asks not to mention it is disrespectfull to the club about talking about a player thats not theirs . if ever wenger talks about such targets , it’ll be because he is either completely sure that player will be at arsenal or we are not even targeting him . in this case mbappe is valued at astronomical sums of 50million and he is just a… Read more »
“Asked about him by a French reporter at his press conference earlier today” … It is right there in the blog post. AW didn’t just show up and started talking about this player. He was answering a question.
Even when asked, he never says anything. The original comment from clins implied that.
Wenger out first
Have some fucking class you bellend. You should go and join the board of Leicester – they should have been building a statue of Ranieri not sacking him and we should be doing the same with Wenger. Remember what happened to Man Utd after Red Nose left – why don’t you fuck off to Tottenham or Chelsea!
They’ve scored more than 80 goals in league 1 this season. Even Falcao is doing well after his recent struggle. Great man management from the club. I hope they win the league.
We’re going through some drama right now but Monaco’s last 6-7 years have been something else. When Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev took majority ownership in 2011, they were in the French 2nd division, He injected some cash, and Claudio Ranieri helped them get promoted for the 2013 season. That’s when they splashed out nearly 200 million euros and brought in guys like James, Falcao and Moutinho (and about 25 other players). They came 3rd in the first season back in top flight, qualified for the Champions League and hired Leonardo Jardim that summer. But the Abramovich-wannabe’s wife decided she wanted to… Read more »
Jardim for arsenal
They didn’t sell Falcao, just loaned him for a few seasons, hence why he is still playing for them
You’re right, thanks for the clarification.
Although United did pay 6mil to Monaco (not sure what Chelsea paid the following year) it was technically a year-long loan, not a transfer.
This guy looks truly special. Would love it if we signed him this summer. There will be the inevitable lot who will have a go at the transfer saying something like “had enough of buying promising youngsters” blah blah. This guy is more than that. At 18 he is scoring for fun for Monaco both in the league and the Champions league. Come on Gazidis/Kroenke – get the cheque book out!
Lol cmon you really think Kroenke will spend the money it will take to get him and other players this summer regardless whomever the manager is??
Any of the tier 1 clubs want him Arsenal will bow out.
At first I read “WENGER CONFIRMS ARSENAL APPROACH FOR KYLIE MINOGUE”, which made me incredibly excited.
At any rate: Sign him (and her). We need prospects like this – the best strikers in the world can’t be bought, they cost £100M or more, so they have to be created. It might not work out, but it’s still worth a shot.
When I saw the notification on my phone it said “Wenger confirms Arsenal Approach for Kyli” and I thought the same thing, haha.
‘Cat-like finishing’? My mums got a cat and I’ve never seen it open it’s body up and place a shot across the keeper into the far corner a la Henry.
Yeah Im not sure what it means either.
I have a cat, and play football with a ping pong ball with her all the time, but her finishing is questionable…the tackling though!
Who hasn’t wenger tried to sign? I wish he wouldn’t say this about every player, it’s just rubbing it in…
Let’s just sign a cat then.
I am in general a Wenger fan, but i’m pretty sure he also thought Sanogo was also the next best thing and look how that turned out (so far!!.) But this story does seem a bit suspicious, in that its leaning (only my point of view btw) towards ‘I would love to play for the mighty Arsene Wenger….’ type signing, and that can only happen if one thing happens – Wenger signs the 2 year extension. I think he will sign it and I would guess the invisible board will have to gamble eventually on when to confirm this, leave… Read more »
I’m looking forward to singing Hanson based terrace songs if we do buy this guy.
So why didn’t you buy him last year then?
Yehhhh more fuckin youngsters for the future to improve, piss off by keeping them benched, get injured and sell. Great going Arse
I can’t stop signing that Hanson song when I see his name.
mmmm’bappe!
My advise to the lad: Don’t come if wenger extends…if you do come, 3 months into your arrival, Wenger would say he sees you as a defensive midfielder or box to box midfielder, change your position and successfully turn your promising career to a mediocre one. Don’t do it!
(1) Do you support Arsenal? If so, why would you urge a player not to come?
(2) It’s just terrible how Wenger, throughout his history, has changed players’ positions and ruined them; the very worst examples: forcing Toure to play at centre-half, and Henry and Van Persie to become strikers. Whatever became of them?
Suspect our fans (or, rather, internet trolls who claim to support Arsenal) would have destroyed his confidence by now if we had signed him.
Can you named one? the player who has no confidence because of internet trolls?
Still waiting for Sanogo to fulfill his Gohan-esque potential.
MYSTIC SANOGO.
Gohan flopped hard though. HARD
Saw him play, very exciting talent. We have an aging asset in Giroud (albeit the Frenchman’s game is not based on pace and he brings different attributes) More likely if Alexis leaves, we can make a play for Mbappe to compete against first and foremost Welbeck as front man. Giroud should be retained and be part of the mix with his experience and his different skill set. In which case we will have to bring someone in to replace Alexis. Maybe Mahrez, preferably Greizzman too but unlikely. Ozil may also leave (likely more dependent on the gaffer). It would be… Read more »
What potential? Sanogo already fulfilled his potential when he scored four goals against Benfica in Emirates cup. So now there’s nothing left of him.
That’s what they always said about Gohan.
Plenty of young players get hyped early in their career but this boy looks the real deal. Anything can happen but I really wouldn’t be surprised if in just a few years time he’s a top striker.
Mbappe clearly has the potential to become a world-class striker. The problem is can we convince him to sign for us, if big clubs like Chelsea, City, Barca, Madrid, etc, have interest in him, we have no chance to compete, it’s no the money but the ambition.
We won’t be in the champions league next season so there is no chance of getting quality players or keeping hold of quality players.
Ozil and Sanchez will definitely go and maybe followed by others.
I would like to see us buy a few good players next year but they won’t be the best in the world has we can’t even contend for cups really never mind win one.
My 11 next season if we could get the players would be.
Pickford, bellerin,koshenly,mustafi,Gaya.
Ramsey,xhaka,Isco
Dembele,Lacazette,Mbapee
This isn’t necessary directed toward you Phil, but what is the current obsession with Jordan Pickford within the media and Arsenal fans? I mean he has good reactions, but I can’t say he seems that commanding and he is seen making saves all day because teams have a shed load of shots against Sunderland. Also, to my mind, he has a tendency to push the ball back into danger areas.
Is really he any better than Cech, Ospina or Szczesny?
I was going to sign this one but didn’t I was going to sign Kante but didn’t Its utter bulshit.