Wenger could have signed Didier Drogba For £100k

New Delhi: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed that he once passed on the opportunity to sign Didier Drogba for a mere £100,000.

Wenger has already identified Chelsea’s Ivory Coast striker - who has returned to the first team with renewed vigour and purpose under temporary boss Guus Hiddink - as the main threat from the Blues to his unfamiliar defence in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

And he recalled the time when he could have bought the Ivory Coast skipper for a knock-down bargain fee.

Drogba cost Chelsea some £24 million when they signed him from Marseille, but seven years ago when he was 24, and trying to make a name for himself with Le Mans in the French Second Division, he could have joined the Gunners for a fraction of that price.

Wenger admitted to journalists on Friday at his pre-match press conference, "We watched Drogba very carefully when he was at Le Mans and his value was just £100,000."

"But we felt at the time he might not be completely ready. Sometimes when you watch a striker playing in a scrappy Championship game you can think ‘yes, he has something but... ’," he said.

"And don’t forget we had Thierry Henry at that time. "We continued to follow his progress but suddenly he moved to Guingamp, then to the club of his dreams at Marseille and then on to Chelsea. Looking back now, of course it was a mistake. But it is not just us who now have regrets. There were a lot of other clubs watching him then," added Wenger.

Missing out on Drogba has come back to haunt Wenger, and ranks as one of the Frenchman's biggest regrets, because he has scored seven times in eight appearances against Arsenal as a Chelsea player.

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