Arsenal have had some very interesting transfer near misses over the years.
Ruud Gullit nearly signed for Arsenal at one point, Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a trial, while Arsenal looked at Cristiano Ronaldo before he joined Manchester United too.
Now, it’s emerged that another footballing great almost signed for the Gunners at one point.
Speaking on the MidMid podcast, former Netherlands star, Ronald De Boer has shared how close he came to signing for Arsenal.
If Arsenal could sign one player past or present in his prime, who would you want it to be and why?
Ronald De Boer nearly joined Arsenal
The Champions League winner spoke about his brush with the Gunners.
De Boer says that everything was agreed for him to leave Ajax for Arsenal, but after a good World Cup in 1998, the door was slammed shut.
“There’s also another story. I could have gone to Arsenal. Everything was agreed with Arsenal. This was before the 1998 World Cup in France. I didn’t have the best left knee—I’d already had some damage. But I had the chance to go to Arsenal,’ De Boer said.
“Everything was settled. I was at the Okura Hotel, spoke with Arsène Wenger, and financially we had reached an agreement with David Dein, who was Arsenal’s chairman at the time.
“I told Ajax, “I have this opportunity, I want to leave,” especially considering my history with knee issues. Even though we had signed a five-year contract and I’d only been there about a year and a half, I said I wanted to go.
“At first they didn’t want to let me leave, but eventually they verbally agreed to help. Frank said he would stay two more years as compensation—he basically said he’d see out his contract. And I thought the same.
“The plan was that after the World Cup, they would speak with Arsenal about the transfer fee. But we had a great tournament—I played very well too. Then when I came back, they said, “No, we’ve thought about it, we’re not letting you go.”
“On one hand, I understood—it made sense given who had already left—but mentally I was already at Arsenal. I was completely ready for that move. Then suddenly the door was slammed shut.
“After that, things escalated—we had arbitration cases, we went on strike, didn’t show up for the first training session. It became a very dark chapter in our careers, especially for Ajax.
Ronald De Boer could’ve been great at Arsenal
Ronald De Boer’s move to Arsenal fell through at the last minute, and that is a real shame.
Indeed, Arsenal could have been the right club at the right time for De Boer.
At that time, Arsenal had a fantastic cohort of Dutch players including Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp who could have helped De Boer settle in north London.
De Boer could’ve worked brilliantly within that squad and recreated what we saw at the 1998 World Cup.
Sadly, it didn’t quite work out and the Dutchman ended up at Barcelona instead before becoming a real cult hero at Rangers later in his career.
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