Legendary Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson has revealed that he had Arsene Wenger cast his eye over Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard before the American moved to Manchester United in 2003, but that the Gunners medical team felt the player’s Tourette’s Syndrome could hinder his performance.
The 31-year-old, who is currently starring for his homeland at the World Cup in South Africa, spent four years at Old Trafford before sealing a switch to Everton with whom he is currently thriving. It now appears that Howard was a contender to take over from David Seaman when the legendary England stalwart left Highbury in 2003 and could have been in goal instead of Jens Lehmann during the Arsenal’s ‘invincibles’ season.
Revealing to Sport.co.uk the manner in which players are scouted before they make a move to Arsenal, former Scotland international Bob Wilson cited the example of Thomas Vermaelen before explaining the problems behind doing a deal for Everton's number one:
“Arsene has somebody in every country and then he sends out the guys from England, particularly Steve Rowley, to go and watch specific targets. With [Thomas]Vermaelen who was captaining Ajax I think they kept tabs on him from the adjoining fields to his training ground and followed it up by watching him 30 times in the end. They obviously decided, ok he’s not 6ft 4 inches tall, but boy is he a player. That’s the way it’s done...
“Funnily enough I did once put Arsenal on to a guy. I received an email from a friend in America who said he’d found a goalie called Tim Howard. He stressed we'd have to be careful though because he suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome and it's true he does have a really bad twitch.
“Arsenal were informed but didn’t follow it up as they felt the medical thing was always going to be a problem. It’s highly debatable now when you see how well he has done at Everton.”
To read Sport.co.uk's full interview with Bob Wilson OBE in which the former Arsenal Double winner talks about the Willow Foundation's latest fundraiser, his career with the Gunners, Arsenal's options in defence and the current coverage of the World Cup, click here.