‘I was supposed to sign for Arsenal’: How Arsene Wenger almost wrecked striker becoming Portsmouth great

Benjani has revealed how close he came to signing for Arsenal before he became a Fratton hero.

The Blues great has told how twice came near to linking up with Arsene Wenger with the Premier League giants.

But the striker is adamant he has no regrets about not linking up with the Gunners, after writing his name into Pompey folklore.

Benjani revealed he nearly was picked up by Wenger in 2004 while with Auxerre in France, with a similar situation emerging before he made his £4.4m move to Fratton Park a couple of years later. 

After a difficult start, the Zimbabwe international broke his 14-game barren run as the Great Escape was completed at Wigan in the 2004-05 season.

The grafter later saw the goals flow for him as he bagged 12 goals in the first half of the 2007-08 season, before moving on to Manchester City.

But Wenger came close to nearly ensuring his place as a darling of the Fratton faithful was never realised.

Benjani exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone: ‘I can remember my move to Portsmouth so well. Harry Redknapp actually told me he'd spoken with Arsene Wenger, to see if he was making the right decision in signing me. I was playing in France at the time, and obviously that's a league Wenger knew so well. He had so many great connections and a good relationship with my manager at the time, Guy Roux.  

‘I was originally supposed to sign for Arsenal, actually. I was playing with Djibril Cisse at the time, and he was just about to secure his move to Liverpool, which sadly meant it was just impossible for Auxerre to sell both of us in the same summer. Two big players, big strikers - that was never going to happen. 

‘At that time, Djibril was playing more than me, because I'd only just arrived at the club, so I was still getting used to things - but Djibril picked up an injury and I took over. I played so well, and that's when a lot of teams and managers started looking at me. Wenger was amongst them.

‘Even when I signed for Portsmouth in January 2006, my manager told me that Wenger still wanted to sign me, but my manager wanted me to see out the rest of the season with Auxerre, which meant that Wenger ended up signing Emmanuel Adebayor from Monaco. 

‘I'm not bothered about that move failing to materialise, because I've seen it so many times in football; it happens so much. You can't build your hopes up on one potential move because there's always a chance it falls through, and it allowed me to sign for Portsmouth, which ended up being such a special place for me. 

‘I've seen Arsene a few times since those early rumours. I remember meeting him in Africa for the World Cup, then again in Dubai at some point, and in London, too. He's a very good man who knows his football so well - but I've never asked him why he didn't sign me!’