Wenger explains why Verdi turned down Arsenal

Former

boss

Arsene Wenger

admits they "offered a lot of money" to sign with

in 2016, but his advances were rejected and the Gunners lost one of the

's most prolific striker.

Vardy had shown that he was too capable of combining with the English football elite and it had made him attractive to every rival, but the move to North London was never possible.

Wenger was asked how close they were to signing Vardy during his time at Arsenal, he said:

"I offered him a lot of money at the time.

"

Leicester

had just won the championship in 2016, and [Vichai] Srivaddhanaprabha at the time, who unfortunately after had the helicopter accident, did absolutely not want to lose him and they offered him a longer contract and approximately the same money, if not more."

Wenger added in response to a question about whether Verdi fits his system:

"We had more of the ball, yes, but still around the box, the timings of his runs, he finds the space.

"When you see the big strikers, they're on the move when others stand still in the box, and he has that.

"You see they read (the game) earlier than others, they anticipate better, they understand quicker than other people what's going on, and (he has) that quality of anticipation, that speed of understanding."

Leicester unexpectedly won the 2015-2016 season title, which was only Vardy's second on the premier league.

Their No.9 was considered and was targeted on 24 occasions.

Arsenal's leading marksman that season,

Olivier Giroud

, matched that overall return but only managed 16 efforts in the league.

Wenger wanted a different kind of frontman, someone who could go backward and move the opponents' defenses, but when he saw Vardi at king power stadium, he adhered to the new conditions.

Vardy has now scored 114 goals in 333 games for Leicester; of these goals, 115 have been in the Premier League, and he has been introduced as one of the 29 centuries in the English top flight.

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