There seems to be a never-ending stream of players Arsene Wenger nearly signed during his spell at Arsenal. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianluigi Buffon have all been cited as players the Gunners missed out on over the years, and now it has come to light that there is another one to join the ever growing throng.

Fernando Torres enjoyed a fruitful spell in the Premier League with Liverpool, before petering out after a big money move to Chelsea, but there was a point when he could have been donning the red shirt of Arsenal instead.

However, the claim is coming from a French comedian, though he at one point was a source close to the Arsenal boss.

Baptiste Lecaplain was a former classmate of Wenger's son-in-law, and says that he had been on the guest list to a number of Gunners matches and training sessions.

And speaking to ex-Chelsea defender Franck Leboeuf on SFR Sport (via Mundo Deportivo) he confirmed that the Spanish international had at one point been on Wenger's radar.

According to Lecaplain, Wenger had been having Torres' performances with the Atletico Madrid youth side, but was apparently put off by the competition he would face from several other top European sides in the hunt for his signature.

But on top of that, Atletico were fearful of losing another quality youngster at such a young age like they did when Raul crossed over the city to join Real Madrid back in 1992, and refused to sanction a move to north London.

However, it wasn't all bad as Wenger then turned his attention toward Thierry Henry, who at the time was playing for Juventus in Italy.

Wenger then successfully converted the youngster from a winger into a striker, and sat back as he watched Henry create history.

Funny how things can work out.