It’s widely understood that Wenger was courted by Madrid president Florentino Perez between the years of 2001 and 2003, who wanted him to preside over the original Galacticos at the Bernabeu.
But according Roger, whose clients included Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Nicolas Anelka, Wenger turned down Perez’s overtures, and is the only man to do so.
‘He [Wenger] used to speak to two agents only; Santos Marquez and me,’ he told L’Equipe, as translated here by Daily Cannon.
‘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.
‘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 20003, only Valdano came as Perez did not believe it would happen anymore.’
It’s perhaps a worry for Arsenal fans to learn that Wenger took a lot of time to reject Madrid, but the fact that he did at all is admirable enough in itself.
And consider, for all of Mourinho’s jibes at Wenger, this is one thing the Frenchman’s got over him.
Someone get that statue built…
Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/21/arsenal-boss-arsene-wenger-is-only-man-to-refuse-real-madrid-job-says-ex-agent-marc-roger-5354592/#ixzz3jXuhWKip
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