Arsene Wenger concedes he ‘didn’t know’ that Tottenham star Harry Kane had been on Arsenal’s books as youngster before ‘reading it in the papers’ last year.
The England international was part of the Gunners academy as an eight-year-old, before they let him leave the club in 2001.
Kane would sign on at north London rivals Spurs three years later, and go on to become the club’s main striker by the age of 22.
With 21 Premier League goals since the turn of the year, Kane is the Premier League’s top goalscorer in 2015, and Wenger admits he was left ‘angry’ by Arsenal’s missed opportunity.
“I didn’t know, I read it in the papers [last year],” Wenger told reporters. “I found it quite funny, you know, and you are always a bit angry as well because I asked: ‘Why did he go?’
"But at nine years of age, boys can move here and there. Some people move from Tottenham to Arsenal. At youth level, because their parents find a different job, they often move somewhere else.
"How good can he be? I don't know. I don't know who you could compare him with but I think he can be a top player. He has top qualities and I think he will make a great career."
Spurs bosses during Wenger’s reign and their record against Arsenal
Speaking to the press on Friday ahead of this weekend’s north London derby, Wenger said that he would never make a move for Kane, insisting that ‘once a player is at Spurs you do not even consider him anymore’.
Wenger was of course in charge of the Gunners when Sol Campbell, then captain of Spurs, crossed the London divide in a highly controversial move to Highbury, but the Frenchman insists that was a completely different situation.
“Sol Campbell? He was free - Campbell was out of contract. We didn’t negotiate any price.”
