Arsenal legend Lauren once snubbed a five-year contract offer from Real Madrid in favour of joining the Gunners.
One of the more underrated members of Arsene Wenger’s 2003/04 Invincibles team was Lauren, who signed from Real Mallorca in May 2000 in a £7million deal. After an injury-ridden first season, the Cameroonian, who moved to Seville, Spain, at a young age, started to play a crucial role as the team’s star right-back.
He won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 2001/02 before making 32 appearances as Arsenal clinched another league title two years later in their historic unbeaten season, cementing him as a club icon despite having been a winger in Spain. But things could have played out very differently had he accepted an offer to join La Liga giants Real Madrid in the same window in which Wenger made his approach.
The 48-year-old, whose move to Roma had fallen through a year prior, says he held talks with Los Blancos. But the financial package offered by Arsenal, as well as the more personable approach by Wenger and former vice-chairman David Dein, made him sign for the Gunners instead.
Lauren told Marca: “In the summer of 2000, while playing for Mallorca, we met in Madrid with Juan Onieva and he offered me a five-year contract, but Arsenal’s proposal was better and the context was different. That Madrid didn’t sign young players like they do now with Rodrygo, Vinicius, Endrick… Once I met with Wenger in London at David Dein’s house they convinced me because it was a more attractive project and I think I made the right choice.”
He explained the nature of the deals offered previously, telling the Mail: “My representative came to Madrid, met Juan Onieva [the vice-president] and they didn’t reach an agreement because the economic conditions that Madrid offered didn’t convince us. We got on a flight and went straight to London, because there had been contact with Arsenal before.
“When we arrived we went straight to David Dein’s house. It was David Dein, his daughter who spoke Spanish, Arsene Wenger, me, my representative, and a translator who we had brought with us because my English was non-existent.
(Image: Press Association)
“What really struck me was that I had always negotiated in an office with everyone very serious, wearing suits and ties. This was totally different. David Dein opens his home to you. His personality was spectacular, the treatment man to man was fantastic and I left there totally convinced.
“And Wenger, with that human warmth he has, that approachable character of his. During negotiations he didn’t speak too much; he listens to you, watches you, he’s seeing if you have the personality to be able to take on this challenge.
“At Madrid it was like you had to do what they said: this is the way it is, full stop. My dad is a Madrid fan, I was always a Sevilla fan and then Madrid as well, but when another club comes along with another attitude however much you might have liked Madrid, you go to the place where they treat you best and where they offer you the best terms.”
Lauren has no doubt that he made the right choice, having made history with the Gunners during his seven-year stint there. And he still works for them as a club ambassador.
The Cameroonian will no doubt be watching eagerly and hoping that his beloved former side can hang on to the 3-0 lead they built in the first-leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid when the north Londoners travel to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
