Arsene Wenger admits he tried to sign Romelu Lukaku before he joined Chelsea as Everton star aims to end Arsenal's season

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Arsene Wenger has revealed he tried to sign Romelu Lukaku before he opted to join Chelsea, but says his defenders should prefer the Everton striker to the Barcelona front three they faced in midweek. 

The Frenchman was monitoring Lukaku while he was in Belgium playing for Anderlecht as a teenager. But rivals Chelsea beat Arsenal to signing him by making an £18million move in 2011.

While it did not work out for Lukaku at Stamford Bridge, he has gone on to become one of the most prolific forwards in the top-flight at Everton, where he moved for £28m in 2014, and is now aiming to virtually end Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League. 

Arsene Wenger says his team should find it easier to play against Romelu Lukaku than Barcelona 

Wenger said that Lukaku was improving as a player, and posed a different threat to Barcelona's front three

‘We knew him from Belgium, but he went to Chelsea,’ Wenger admitted. ‘He's developing well. Year after year he's better. 

'His finishing his better, technical link up play is better. He is promising a big career. It's always a sign when the numbers are better year after year. 

'He went out on loan to Everton and I did expect him to go back to Chelsea. After that, we were never on the case.’

Should Wenger’s side fail to cope with the player — who has six goals in his last six games putting him on 18 Premier League goals for the season, one behind Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane in the scoring charts — anything but a victory against Everton on Saturday lunchtime should end any chances of catching league leaders Leicester City. 

Claudio Ranieri’s side are already 11 points ahead, although they have played one game more. 

Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar all scored in Barca's Champions League win over Arsenal this week

Messi dinks the ball over David Ospina as Gabriel looks on to score Barca's final goal on Wednesday

Wenger hopes his defenders will be able to deal with Lukaku, who is still only 22, after coming up against Nemyar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez over two legs against Barcelona in the Champions League.

Asked how he would stop him, Wenger replied: ’Look, we've just played against Neymar, Messi and Suarez. 

'He'll give us another headache. Our defenders should take encouragement from the performance they put in against Barcelona.’

Wenger called on his players to take heart from the positive performance in Barcelona for the title run-in

The Arsenal boss said his team were still aiming for the Premier League title, after a disappointing week

Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez have both struggled for goals recently, but Wenger backed his strikers

Theo Walcott is another player who is short on goals, but Wenger insists it is only a confidence issue