Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger turned down a move to Real Madrid when Los Blancos were at the height of the Galatico project, it has been revealed.
The Frenchman was approached on a number of occasions between 2001 and 2003 but opted to stay with the Gunners instead of taking over at the club and managing the likes of Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham.
It is well know that Wenger was hugely admired by president Florentino Perez for his work at the north London side, and speaking to French paper L’Equipe, former agent Marc Roger revealed Wenger is possibly the only man to reject the chance to manage the Galaticos.
“After the Makelele transfer to Chelsea, there were some meetings organised with Vieira and especially Wenger. It was his [Perez’s] dream to hire him. But Arsene, who has the mindset of a youth training coach, did not want to go there,” Roger stated.
He added: “He is the only man in the world who refused to manage the Real Madrid with Roberto Carlos, Figo, Zidane and Beckham. And he took a lot of time to refuse the offer. We started the meetings in 2001 and in 2003 we were still discussing and negotiating. In the last meeting in January or February 2003, only Valdano came as Perez did not believe it would happen anymore.”
