Arsenal have been no strangers to spending large fortunes on transfers in recent years, with Declan Rice (£105m), Nicolas Pepe (£72m) and Kai Havertz (£65m) having all joined the Gunners in big-money moves.
The start of the Premier League era proved no different for Arsenal, as they attempted to sign the best talent from across the country and Europe to continue challenging for the title under George Graham.
While £4m nowadays is lucky to land even a Championship player, back in 1993 it proved a lot of money. In fact, Roy Keane's £3.75m move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester United in July 1993 was the British transfer record, which Arsenal attempted to break by signing Peter Ndlovu from Coventry City for £4m.
Arsenal failed with record £4m bid for Peter Ndlovu
The Zimbabwean striker terrorised the Gunners at Highbury on the opening day of the 1993/94 season, helping Coventry win 3-0 courtesy of a Micky Quinn hat-trick. Arsenal boss George Graham cancelled the post-match lap of honour to celebrate the club's FA Cup and League Cup successes from the previous season, before making it clear to the hierarchy that they had to sign the 20-year-old Ndlovu. However, he refused to agree to the move.
"[Coventry manager] Bobby Gould said, 'Peter, Arsenal are knocking on the door for you,' but, being a kid at the time, I replied, 'Boss, I’m happy here.' That was my focus," Ndlovu exclusively tells FourFourTwo.
"It was very special to be wanted by a big team like Arsenal, but I was already the darling of the crowd at Coventry and I wanted to give more back to the people who supported me.
"There was talk of a £4 million fee, which would have made me the most expensive player signed by an English club – it was a lot of money back then. You can see football has evolved! Money has gone crazy in terms of transfers."
While Ndlovu remained at Highfield Road, Gould soon departed following a 5-1 defeat to QPR in October 1993. His assistant, Phil Neal, replaced him, helping Coventry to 11th in the Premier League.
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Ndlovu proved crucial to the club's success, too, with his 11 goals and six assists that term making things comfortable after a tetchy campaign the previous season.
Unfortunately for the forward, he never got the opportunity to move to a so-called big club again. In 1997 Birmingham City paid £1.6m for him, with a loan spell at Huddersfield Town and few years at Sheffield United signalling the end of his time in English football.
