Missing out on Gareth Bale is perhaps one of the most players to appear on this list. Wenger admitted that the Gunners were looking at the Welshman back in 2007, when he signed for Tottenham. However, the Arsenal boss claimed the club did not make a move as they already had sufficient resources in the left back department. Unaware that Bale would go on to become a world-beating winger, the Gunners subsequently missed out on signing the Southampton youngster. Unsurprisingly, Wenger confesses now that it was a huge mistake not signing Bale, who scored 26 goals in his final season for Spurs before moving to Real Madrid for a world record fee in 2013. His transfer has seen his star rise even more, with the Welshman netting 21 times this season. Arsenal fans will look back and think what might have been had they signed Bale. Of course, they secured the signatures of two other Southampton starlets, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, but Bale would have been the pick of the bunch.
Simon is an NCTJ qualified sports journalist. He has conducted interviews with Tony Adams and Peter Shilton, while also having work published in The Daily Telegraph and The Sun. Follow him on Twitter via @sr_collings.
