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'That first season was like a dream for me'

He would go on to become one of our greatest-ever goalkeepers, but David Seaman very nearly missed out on the opportunity to join us at all.

The former England international - who will play for Arsenal Legends against Real Madrid on Saturday - was at QPR in 1990 when George Graham came calling - but an unfortunate injury nearly scuppered everything.

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"The season before I found out that I was going to be joining Arsenal, I got a chance to join them," Seaman told Arsenal Player. "It’s weird because that same morning I’d spoken to a certain Alex Ferguson, who said that he wanted me to go to Manchester United and then Arsenal came in for me in the afternoon, made a bid and everything, but it all fell through, so I had to go back to QPR. 

"We’d already come to an agreement with Arsenal that I was going to sign, so I went to the World Cup as number three goalkeeper and broke my thumb in training, so I’m thinking, 'Oh no.'

"I went straight to the hospital, came back and there was Doc Crane who used to be the Arsenal and England doctor. He said we just need to go on a little detour to see George Graham and David Dein, I was like, 'Woah!' 

"The news was that I’d actually fractured my thumb, so anyway I went to see them and they said it was fine and I was ready for the start of the season. 

"For me it was brilliant because when I took over from John [Lukic] there were a lot of people saying he was better than me and they didn’t want him to leave, so all I wanted to do was get to Arsenal and show what I can do. 

"That first season was like a dream come true. To win the league in your first season and let in 18 goals with 23 clean sheets, it was pretty special at the time."

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