Football is a funny old game. Kolo Toure is one of the best central defenders Arsenal has had and to think that nobody wanted to sign the Ivory Coast international because he was not good enough.
Arsene Wenger is the one that took a gamble on Toure in 2002 and signed him from ASEC Mimosas for a fee of £150,000 after a short trial.
Toure went one to win honours with Arsenal between 2002 and 2009 before joining Manchester City and now he is at Liverpool. All this would probably not have happened if it were not for Wenger.
“I am pleased for him because he came here completely unknown and made a great career,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“He’s a boy that’s dedicated, has sympathy for everybody, speaks with everybody and loves football passionately so you are happy that he is happy.
“Yes [he is one of my most satisfying signings] because he failed tests nearly everywhere; at two French clubs, at a Swiss club and nobody kept him.
“I kept him here after the tests, so he was not good enough for the smaller clubs but he made it in a big club. Maybe that was his luck as well.
“One of the things that convinced me was his sheer enthusiasm for the game and his huge desire to do well. As you know a successful life is about attitude and he had the right attitude and got the opportunity with us.”