Former Belgium striker Emile Mpenza has revealed he turned down a move to Arsenal, on the advice of his father.
Mpenza, now 42, retired and working as a coach at Royal Antwerp, enjoyed a varied career, playing all around Europe for the likes of Standard Liege, Schalke, Hamburg and Manchester City.
It was in Belgium at the beginning of his career that he really shone, though, with his first season in the Jupiler Pro League seeing him score 12 goals and register five assists at Excelsior Mouscron.
And this, he says, earned him the attention of Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, who wanted to add him to a forward line that already boasted Ian Wright, Nicolas Anelka and Dennis Bergkamp.
“That’s true. Before I switched from Mouscron to Standard Liège in 1997, Wenger came to our home,” he told SportBILD.
“He wanted to convince me to move to London because at the end of the nineties he built a super team with French stars like Thierry Henry.
“But my father didn’t want me to go to Arsenal at the time. He said I was too young to take this step and should keep playing with my brother.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Mpenza has spoken about nearly joining Arsenal, and it probably won’t be the last either.
Instead, he joins the long list of players that Wenger nearly signed during his reign, which seems to grow year by year.
Given that Mpenza’s best seasons after that initial campaign came back in Belgium and the Swiss Super League, perhaps things worked out the best for Arsenal.
