Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger considered attempting to sign Manchester City midfielder Owen Hargreaves

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that he has twice considered signing Manchester City midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

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The England international looks set to continue his comeback from long-term injury, potentially making an appearance in Tuesday's Carling Cup match against Arsenal.

And the Arsenal manager has admitted he considered moving for Hargreaves before he joined Manchester United in 2007 and then again in the summer when the midfielder became a free agent.

Wenger said: "It's hard to miss years through injury. When they come back it shows great mental strength and Owen Hargreaves has that.

"He was a regular in the England national team and now for years he has not played at all. Everybody is happy to see him back.

"When he played at Bayern Munich we followed him very closely but it was a big transfer - I think he was sold to Manchester United for £17 million at the time and he only had one year left on his contract. So we didn't move in for him at that time.

"In the summer, you consider it but we had players like [Emmanuel] Frimpong and [Francis] Coquelin coming back - [Alex] Song and [Abou] Diaby in these defensive positions where we were not really in the need."