Ex-Arsenal scout says he almost signed £100m ‘generational talent’ and his teammate

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Former Arsenal scout Steve Morrow has shed light on some of the deals he came very close to completing when he was at the Emirates.

If you’ve followed Arsene Wenger’s legendary press conferences over the last two decades, you’d know very well about the long list of players he almost signed for Arsenal.

From Cristiano Ronaldo to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and from Lionel Messi to Kylian Mbappe, we’ve heard it all, and it looks like we almost signed two more extraordinary talents in recent years.

Arsenal could have signed Sancho and Bellingham

Morrow told Goal: “Jadon Sancho was certainly one of those. We missed out on him once when he moved from Watford and went up to Manchester City, and then again when he reached that age at City when young players have a choice to make.

“Jadon felt that his future was away from Manchester and we were very, very close to signing him, but the family felt at the time that the best opportunity for him was at Dortmund and off he went.

“Jude Bellingham was another one that was very similar to that. When he came to the end of his contract at Birmingham and was debating whether to stay there and sign a scholarship or move somewhere else, we were very close to that one as well. But sometimes it just doesn’t happen and you have to accept it.”

Both Sancho and his current teammate Bellingham are among the best young players in the world.

Sancho, in particular, is one of the biggest names in Europe at the moment. Labelled as a ‘generational talent’ by Owen Hargreaves, the Englishman is now reportedly worth over £100 million. (Goal)

Arsenal could have signed him for next to nothing, but it wasn’t meant to be. He joins a long list of players we’ve missed out on, and it will hurt even more when he ends up at a rival club like Manchester United next summer and plays out of his skin against us.