Meet the 'world class' midfielder who failed a trial at Arsenal before winning the Ballon d'Or and the Champions League
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Arsenal can currently boast a superb midfield.
The dazzling Martin Odegaard is complimented by a true midfield powerhouse in Declan Rice – while Mikel Arteta also has an elite talent on his hands in Ethan Nwaneri.
However, back in the eighties, Arsenal had the chance to bring a future Ballon d’Or winner and European champion to north London for the measly fee of £200,000 – which equates to £838,798 today.
Arsenal rejected Ruud Gullit
At the start of the eighties, the Gunners had a midfield department containing the likes of Paul Davis, Peter Nicholas, Graham Rix and Brian Talbot – which was deemed good enough to ignore the talents of a young Ruud Gullit.
The Dutchman had jetted over to north London from Haarlem for a trial with Arsenal, as Barry Hughes – manager of the Dutch side – knew Gunners boss Don Howe and his assistant, Wilf Dixon.
It is said that the duo watched Gullit take part in a trial game, but were left unimpressed by what they saw – ultimately finding the decision to reject him even easier when Haarlem made his £200,000 price tag known.
Feyenoord eventually signed the midfielder for a sum of £300,000 in 1982 after his failed trial at Arsenal, scoring 41 goals and providing 22 assists in 103 appearances before PSV Eindhoven came calling, where he spent just two years from 1985 to 1987 before AC Milan shelled out £6m for his signature.
Ruud Gullit hits stardom in Milan
The £6m figure was a world record fee at the time, and also the first abundantly clear sign that Arsenal had made a huge mistake.
Remarkably, Gullit, who admires Mikel Arteta, won the Ballon d’Or in his first campaign at the San Siro in 1987, scoring 13 goals and providing 11 assists in 39 games from midfield before later winning the UEFA Champions League – known as the European Cup back then – in 1989.
As the dreadlocked superstar worked his way up to eventual stardom in Milan, Arsenal could only secure one First Division title in the eighties – which came in 1989 – and also failed to win an FA Cup that decade.
Had Gullit, who once recommended Carlo Ancelotti for Arsenal, been playing in red and white – however – the eighties could well have turned out very differently for Arsenal.
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