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Defender Man Utd signed for £16m says he had a meeting to sign for Arsenal
Arsenal and Manchester United have gone head to head in a number of transfer wars over the years.
Arsenal wanted Lisandro Martinez before the World Cup winner signed for Manchester United, while Gabriel Martinelli was on trial at Manchester United before signing for Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Andreas Pereira nearly signed for Arsenal, but he went to Old Trafford instead.
Now, another former United player has claimed that he nearly joined Arsenal.
Indeed, speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Phil Jones has been discussing some of the clubs he nearly signed for before heading to Manchester United, and he says that he actually met with Arsenal just after speaking to United for the first time.
Phil Jones had a meeting to sign for Arsenal
Jones spoke about his options.
The defender was a wanted man before his £16m move to Manchester United as he says he spoke to Everton, Tottenham and Manchester City before a meeting with United.
Meanwhile, Jones also says he spoke to Arsenal after he finished with United, but his mind was made up.
“So believe it or not, Sir Alex was the last club to come in. I’d spoke to David Moyes, I went to David Moyes’ house at Everton when he was thinking he was still based in Preston. Yeah,” Jones said.
“I’d spoke to Man City, but I think they were going through a time where they didn’t really know which managers and they didn’t know whether they were going to change the manager. I can’t remember who was in charge.
They didn’t really know who was coming in, and I didn’t want to come in knowing who actually wanted me at the club. Who else did? I had Harry Redknapp on the phone at Tottenham.”
“And so I was going, I was actually going to meet United. And then Arsenal had been in the peripheral as well. So I was actually going to meet Sir Alex and then go to meet Arsenal straight after.”
“I was meeting Arsenal an hour, two hours later. And you can’t say that. I just said to my agent, it doesn’t really matter what anybody’s going to offer now.
Like my mind’s made, done. But we actually, funny story, we actually got the plane back and we said to David Gill at the time, we said, can you just drop us off at Luton Airport? He said, well, we’re meeting up with the 21s.
Cause I was, I was meeting up with the under 21s at the World Championships. I said, could I just drop us off there? Because I think that’s where we’re meeting around the London area.
He was like, yeah, if you want. He made a joke saying, what do you think it is? A bus or something, like, would you drop me off anyway you want?
He dropped us off at Luton. And I think at the time, I think, God bless him, I think he’s passed away now, Steve Rowley. He got out of the car and my agent sort of like pushed his head, he’s got out of the car, but my agent sort of pushed his head back in the car because “we didn’t want United knowing that we were meeting Arsene as well.”
Phil Jones’ first game vs Arsenal for Manchester United
Jones snubbed Arsenal for Manchester United in the summer of 2011.
This was a big call for any player to make as he had to choose between two of the biggest clubs in England.
However, Jones’ decision was justified just a few months later.
Indeed, not only was the centre-back immediately given first-team minutes for United, in just his second start for the Red Devils, he faced off against Arsenal.
This was a big moment for Jones as he had to prove that he’d made the right call.
Well, it’s fair to say that United showed Jones on that day that he’d made the right decision as United thrashed Arsenal 8-2.
Within a few months of becoming a United player, Jones had smashed Arsenal, and he would’ve been feeling quite smug about his decision to pick Old Trafford over The Emirates.