Arsenal legend Tony Adams has told of how the club’s transfer market ambition in the 1990s helped convince him to turn down Manchester United – and revealed his frustration at the difference in attitude today.
The Gunners skipper has previously explained how Sir Alex Ferguson twice tried to tempt him into a move to Old Trafford, once in 1991 and again five years later.
On the first occasion, Arsenal had just won the title, but by 1996 they were enduring a barren spell in the league, with the transformation under Arsene Wenger yet to get underway.
“Alex Ferguson came in for me,” Adams told Sky Sports. “But I wouldn't leave and I said to the chairman: 'Have we got ambition at the club?'
"He said 'don't worry, we are injecting a lot of money and we are going to go for it'.
"I stayed and the rest is history - Dennis [Bergkamp] came and Nicolas Anelka, [Patrick] Vieira, Manu [Emmanuel Petit], Robert Pires - we had five World Cup winners in the team.”
Adams feels that approach is a far cry from the way things are run nowadays, with the club having been forced to sell their best players on countless occasions over the past decade.
Current captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be the latest to follow this summer and ‘Mr. Arsenal’ believes the Gunners won’t end their title drought until that trend is halted.
"It is a completely different club today,” he added. “I think recruitment at Arsenal for a good few years has not been great.
"Now we seem to be selling our best players and you are never going to recruit a championship squad selling all your best players."
