5 World Class players who rejected Arsenal

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan does not do auditions Mr. Wenger.

The enigma that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic seems to be getting better with age. The Swedish superstar, who began his footballing career at his hometown club Malmo, has had the honour of pulling on jerseys of world-class clubs such as Ajax, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona and most recently Manchester United and has been a goal-scoring machine in whichever country he has played in.

However, his story could have been a lot different had he joined Arsenal in the summer of 2000. After having impressed for Malmo’s youth squads, Zlatan broke into the club’s first team in 1999 and was an instant hit at the club as he scored some vital goals and it was inevitable that several top clubs showed an interest in acquiring his services.

Arsene Wenger was amongst those interested in signing the Swedish and even invited Zlatan to come down to North London in the summer of 2000 so as to make progress and even offered him the club’s jersey with number 9 printed on it. However, even Arsene might not have imagined what was to unfold in the weeks to come as when the French manager asked the Swede to have a trial at the club, Zlatan refused, famously claiming “Zlatan does not do auditions.”

While the move to North-London failed to materialise, there is no denying the fact that the Swedish superstar has enjoyed a stellar career winning numerous trophies as well as earning several deserved personal awards in the process.