He was one of the most talented players Arsene Wenger worked with, but Arsenal sold him before playing a game

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsene Wenger worked with some truly incredible talents during his time as the Arsenal manager.

Indeed, Thierry Henry is an all-time great, while Dennis Bergkamp was a once in a generation talent.

On top of that, Jack Wilshere was a technical marvel, while Mesut Ozil was one of the best of his generation.

However, speaking on the Beast Mode On Podcast, Jay Bothroyd has claimed that Arsene Wenger once made a very interesting claim about his ability.

Indeed, according to Bothroyd, Wenger once told him he’s one of the most talented players he’d ever worked with.

Arsene Wenger told Jay Bothroyd he was one of the best

Bothroyd recalled a story of how he met Wenger at Arsenal’s training ground after he’d left the club.

Bothroyd was training with England at London Colney during an international break, and during that time, he was called for a meeting with Arsene Wenger.

According to the striker, Wenger told him that day that he was one of the most talented players he’d ever worked with.

“The training was at Arsenal’s training ground, and I hadn’t been back since I left,” Bothroyd said.

“Gary Lewin was the physio, Arsenal physio, and he said the boss wants to see you, so I went to go into Capello’s room, but he said the boss wants to see you, Wenger.

“All of these nostalgic memories were coming back to me. As soon as I came into his room, I had tears in my eyes, he grabbed my shoulders and said ‘I knew you could do it, I knew you had the talent.’

“Then he says to me ‘you, then, were one of the best players I ever worked with up until this point now.’ I was like ‘what do you mean?’ He said ‘You are one of the most talented players I’ve ever worked with as a manager.”

What happened to Jay Bothroyd at Arsenal?

Many Arsenal fans would be forgiven for not knowing much about Jay Bothroyd’s Arsenal career.

Indeed, the striker never played a senior game for Arsenal, and he was sold by the club at the age of 18 to Coventry City.

So, why didn’t things work out for Bothroyd at Arsenal?

Bothroyd apparently had disciplinary issues at Arsenal, that forced the club into selling him, and, speaking to Sky Sports years later, Wenger did express regret about this situation.

“He is one of my regrets, he left very early,” Wenger said.

“But I have said many times it is important a guy has a good career, even if he goes somewhere else. “It is better than to play in the reserves.

“”He went down but has come back up again and we are all very proud of him at Arsenal.”

Who knows? In another world perhaps Bothroyd could’ve turned into a star for Arsenal, but, instead, he left the club before even playing a match.