Arsene Wenger has revealed Arsenal were interested in signing Gareth Barry when he moved from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2009.
The 36-year-old is set to surpass Ryan Giggs’ all-time Premier League appearance record with his 633rd top-flight game when West Brom visit the Emirates Stadium on Monday.
Barry moved to the Etihad Stadium from Aston Villa eight years ago for £12million, going on to win the Premier League and FA Cup with the club, before joining Everton and, this summer, moving to West Brom.
Wenger says City's spending power priced Arsenal out of a move, telling reporters: "We were interested in him, yes, when he moved from Villa to City but at the time City was the big investor and so that financial potential was superior to ours at the time."
West Brom's 0-0 draw with West Ham last weekend was also Barry's 600th Premier League start and made his top-flight debut for Aston Villa, as a substitute, in May 1998.
Wenger added: “I believe that it’s an outstanding achievement. He’s a player who is intelligent, determined, strong in the challenge, has good technical quality and I personally always rated him highly.
"I think just he was a bit unlucky in England because he was in the period of [Frank] Lampard and [Steven] Gerrard and got not the number of caps [53] he deserved maybe for England, but it’s an exceptional achievement what he’s doing.”
