Toulouse president Damien Comolli had this week a long interview with French outlet RMC Sport (via Les Violets).
The club chief, who was a scout at Arsenal between 1996 and 2004, talked about several transfers he’s been handling at the Ligue 1 side lately.
It turns out there was a reason to mention one of the signings he worked on for the Gunners many years ago.
That was Gael Clichy’s arrival at Arsenal, which he compared to Mikkel Desler’s recent move to Tolouse.
“When we wanted to recruit Mikkel Desler, he was surprised. ‘hy are you contacting me?’ he asked. I replied: ‘Because you can help us by becoming a very good Ligue 2 right-back and the numbers show us that you can make the top 10 in Ligue 1’.”
“He thought he wasn’t going to make it. He was voted best right-back in Ligue 2 and he proves every weekend in Ligue 1 that we were right. When I was at Arsenal, I did the same thing with Gael Clichy, spending a whole afternoon convincing him and telling him that he had the level to play at Arsenal.”
It was in the summer of 2003 that Clichy left Cannes to join Arsenal. He featured for the Gunners for eight years, having 264 appearances for the club, and Arsène Wenger’s side was the one where he played the most.
It was only in 2011 that the left-back ended up being sold to Manchester City on a €7.57m deal. He also stayed there for a while, belonging to the club for six seasons.
Comolli, who left Arsenal in 2004, then worked at Saint-Etienne, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Fenerbahce and then Toulouse, where he had his first job as a club president.
