With the news that Arsene Wenger personally called up Russian scout, Oleg Luzhny, to watch CSKA Moscow midfielder, Aleksandr Golovin, we look at other players that the Frenchman has used the personal touch to sign.
Wenger apparently told football agent, Sandor Varga, who represented ex-Gunner Oleg Luzhny, to keep an eye on 21-year-old Golovin and now the youngster is set to sign for Arsenal for between £10m and £15m.
So, who else has Wenger personally had a hand in recruiting?
6. Mesut Ozil
Ozil left Real Madrid for Arsenal in 2013 after a phonecall with Wenger.
“I did not get the respect and trust. It was a bit difficult. When I spoke to Arsène on the phone, he was full of respect and, as a player, I need that,” the playmaker said.
“I’m not disappointed. I’m at Arsenal now, which is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“You can see by the reaction of the fans and the players [at Madrid] that they didn’t understand the move.
“I don’t want to say anything bad about Madrid because I had three wonderful years there. I have great friends there. We achieved a lot with the club.”
The Germany international also revealed that he called the manager himself.
“’Mr Wenger,’ I said, ‘I promised that you’d be the first person I’d contact if I were ever looking for another club. Now I am’,” Ozil wrote in his autobiography.
“Arsene Wenger told me that he had been keeping an eye on me the whole time and that he liked how I’d developed. And all of a sudden I had that positive feeling again, the one I’d had during our telephone conversation back in 2010.
“I sensed that this man, who I’d never met personally, had a very high opinion of me and trusted me. Exactly what I needed at this difficult time.”
