{"id":30925,"date":"2025-12-05T04:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/defender-admits-he-rejected-man-citys-move-to-arsenal\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T04:11:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T09:11:59","slug":"defender-admits-he-rejected-man-citys-move-to-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/defender-admits-he-rejected-man-citys-move-to-arsenal\/","title":{"rendered":"Defender admits he rejected Man City&#8217;s move to Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/defender-admits-he-rejected-man-citys-move-to-arsenal\/#Mikael_Silvestre_rejects_Arsenal_move_to_Man_City\" >Mikael Silvestre rejects Arsenal move to Man City<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2025\/12\/05\/defender-admits-he-rejected-man-citys-move-to-arsenal\/#Silvestre_was_excited_to_join_the_Gunners\" >Silvestre was excited to join the Gunners<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Former Manchester United and Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre has lifted the lid on the most dramatic transfer twist of his career, revealing that he abandoned a nearly completed move to Manchester City in 2008 to sign for Arsene Wenger&#8217;s Arsenal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In an interview with Poker Scout, Silvestre admitted that he was &#8220;half way through medical care&#8221; at City when Wenger intervened late and completely changed his mind.<\/p>\n<p>A move beyond Manchester was expected, but instead it resulted in one of the summer&#8217;s most surprising transfers, with the United veteran joining their north London rivals.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Mikael_Silvestre_rejects_Arsenal_move_to_Man_City\"><\/span>Mikael Silvestre rejects Arsenal move to Man City<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><em>&#8220;Believe it or not, I almost signed for Manchester City in 2008.&#8221;<\/em> As reported by GOAL, Silvestre explained:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I was in the middle of my medical in Manchester and very close to finalizing my transfer. But during my medical, manager Arsene Wenger contacted me through a friend to try and get me to sign for Arsenal.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At the time, Silvestre was 31 years old and nearing the end of his glorious spell under Sir Alex Ferguson.<\/p>\n<p>The French defender spent nine seasons at Old Trafford, making over 360 appearances and winning five Premier League titles, one FA Cup and the 2008 Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>City, who were on the brink of a takeover revolution at the time, had already reached a tentative agreement for Silvestre&#8217;s transfer.<\/p>\n<p>Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux were also interested, with Sunderland also making inquiries. However, the chance to play under Wenger, one of his long-time fans, proved impossible to resist.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Silvestre_was_excited_to_join_the_Gunners\"><\/span>Silvestre was excited to join the Gunners<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-414x285.jpg.webp 414w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-630x434.jpg.webp 630w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-768x529.jpg.webp 768w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-770x531.jpg.webp 770w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-900x620.jpg.webp 900w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-1200x827.jpg.webp 1200w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north-1536x1058.jpg.webp 1536w,https:\/\/icdn.caughtoffside.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/manchester-united-v-liverpool-legends-of-the-north.jpg.webp 1547w\" data-sizes=\"(min-width:1230px) 770px, (min-width:1020px) 630px, (min-width:900px) 880px, (min-width:680px) 97vw, (min-width:414px) 414px, 100vw\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mikael Silvestre at Manchester United (Photo by Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Silvestre revealed that the opportunity to join Arsenal was attractive not only professionally but also personally.<\/p>\n<p>Like compatriots such as Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira, Wenger&#8217;s reputation for extending the careers of experienced players played a key role.<\/p>\n<p>The transfer was confirmed within days, and Silvestre became the first player in 34 years to join Arsenal directly from Man United, following Brian Kidd in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>He made 43 appearances over two seasons for Arsenal, helping the Gunners reach the Champions League semi-finals in 2009.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Where Rodrygo could go next amid interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Manchester United and Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre has lifted the lid on the most dramatic transfer twist of his career, revealing that he abandoned a nearly completed move to Manchester City in 2008 to sign for Arsene Wenger&#8217;s Arsenal. In an interview with Poker Scout, Silvestre admitted that he was &#8220;half way through medical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-30925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}