Wenger managed a number of high-profile players, including Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Tony Adams, Ian Wright, Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fabregas and Patrick Vieira, Nwankwo Kanu and David Seaman during his 22-year reign at Arsenal.
Asked to name the most underrated player he ever coached, Wenger told the SPORTbible: ”Gilberto Silva. He was naturally discreet. I remember when I bought him in 2002, he was in Japan at the World Cup.
“I looked at him and I thought he doesn’t make anything special but then you think who won that ball and it’s Gilberto Silva, or who made that pass and it’s Gilberto Silva.
“I went to buy him and after that I would say in the Invincibles nobody speaks about him but he’s the kind of player you see only how much they miss them when they don’t play. When they play they find it all natural.
“Olivier Giroud was a bit like that in the other way. That means when he missed a pass, it was always a clumsy pass but when you didn’t play him, you missed some presence upfront. It was a bit similar in a different way.
“Lauren as well, he was a real fighter of the old times.”
