Arsene Wenger has revealed that he went to Monaco wonderkid Kylian Mbappe‘s house last summer in a bid to convince him to join Arsenal.
The France international, who has been likened to Gunners legend Thierry Henry in the past, has enjoyed an impressive campaign with the current Ligue 1 leaders as he’s netted 24 goals in 39 games across all competitions.
Wenger has made no secret of his admiration for the teenager, who is a £72m transfer target for Manchester United [via the Guardian] – and has spoken of his personal attempts to prize the forward away from the Stade Louis II.
“The player would tell you that I was at his home last year to try to get him here,” Wenger told beINSport, as reported by the Evening Standard.
“Because he was at the end of [his] contract but Monaco managed to keep him and the decision was very, very tight.
“But I could understand it as well because he was educated there and at the end decided to stay there.”
Similar to Henry, Mbappe is a pacy forward with a tendency to drift out to the left-hand side as well as making runs in behind and has completed 40% of attempted take-ons and boasts a shot accuracy of 76% in the top flight of French football.
He was kept at bay by Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini in last night’s Champions League semi-final first-leg against Juventus, although he still managed to hit the target with two of his three shots and completed all four attempted take-ons.
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