Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Features
He is the £54m star Mikel Arteta wanted to transform Arsenal’s midfield who is now starring with Karim Benzema
Over the years, Arsenal missed out on signing several players who could have been brilliant under Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal fans probably don’t need reminding at this point that Wenger once made moves to sign both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, before they rose to stardom.
However, during Mikel Arteta’s time in charge, it’s usually been a case of the Spaniard getting his man, at least from the outside looking in.
However, back in 2020, soon after Arteta joined, a lot of Arsenal fans were busy watching highlight reels of Houssem Aouar at Lyon in Ligue 1.
Aouar wasn’t a household name by any means in England, but his name was still being echoed around N5, a player who many thought was on his way to the Emirates.
Mikel Arteta wanted to sign Houssem Aouar for Arsenal
According to who shared their report at the time, Arsenal made a move for Aouar, a cash-plus-Matteo Guendouzi bid.
Safe to say, Lyon rejected that offer and instead told Arsenal that they wanted £54m for their playmaker.
READ MORE: Andrea Berta might be about to waste £38m at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta is making the same old mistakes
In that same summer, Arsenal ended up buying Thomas Partey for a fairly similar fee from Atletico Madrid, but perhaps Aouar was actually the club’s first choice.
Aouar was 22-years-old at the time and he clearly had an excellent future ahead of him, even if his career hasn’t now panned out like many had expected.
After staying at Lyon that summer, Aouar’s stock seemed to fall quite dramatically over the seasons to come to the point where he ended up joining AS Roma on a free transfer in 2023, where he only lasted a year.
Houssem Aouar is now assisting former Arsenal target Karim Benzema
After a year playing for Roma, Aouar was then sold to Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League where he’s still playing his football today.
At 26-years-old, Aouar is now playing a midfield three alongside Fabinho and N’Golo Kante, two players who have both won the Premier League.
And in Al-Ittihad’s last game, Aouar had a front three of Steven Bergwijn, Moussa Diaby and Karim Benzema playing ahead of him.
Therefore, it’s safe to say that Aouar’s career might have gone in a very different direction had he signed for Arsenal instead in 2020.
Of course, Arsenal were linked with a move for Benzema only recently as a result of their striker issues.
And when you consider that Wenger wanted to sign Kante for Arsenal, Al-Ittihad’s starting eleven almost looks like a tribute to the ones who got away for the Gunners.