I saw Arsene Wenger's true colours after Arsenal exit

In his early days as a footballer, David Bentley was fighting for a place in Arsene Wenger's iconic Arsenal 'Invincibles' squad.

Fresh out of the Gunners' academy system, Bentley did all he could to force his way into a team containing the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and other young talents like Cesc Fabregas. It was an exciting, but arduous task, which often left him feeling unsatisfied with the amount of football he was getting.

Fast forward 22 years and Bentley is fighting again, this time as a boxer with former Arsenal goalkeeper Graham Stack's fighting promotion Pro Project Promotions. He will be strapping on the gloves to fight ex-Chelsea player and assistant manager Jody Morris at a charity boxing event on October 18 at the Grosvenor Hotel in Mayfair, London.

When he looks back on his early Arsenal days, Bentley, who also played for Tottenham Hotspur and many others, looks back on his conversations with Wenger. Speaking exclusively to football.london, Bentley said: "The meeting [which sticks out] was probably after I got left out of the Charity Shield squad.

"I was like, 'I've got to go on loan somewhere. I've got to find somewhere.' I think that was around the time I maybe went to Norwich.

"You just have normal professional conversations about it. I want to play, but you can understand, because you've got such great players in front of you."

Many years later, Bentley reunited with the legendary Arsenal manager shortly after he forced his way into the England squad. With Bentley's career trajectory at an even higher point, Wenger outlined to him his honest thoughts on the Englishman as a footballer and a person.

The former Blackburn Rovers midfielder added: "Another one when I played for England at Stade de France. A few years later, I had a great conversation with him. He really opened up on me as a footballer.

"He told me things that I never knew he knew about me. It just showed the class of the bloke. He said so many nice things, which stuck with me really. That was a touch of class.

"I remember outside the changing rooms having a half an hour conversation with him. We just talked about football. He was talking to me about myself when I was there. It was a real pleasure really, outside of the day-to-day, us all being in training or in game mode. It was quite nice."

After a loan spell with Norwich, Bentley was sold to Blackburn by the Gunners for £6million, which was considered to be a handsome windfall at the time. In a press conference before the north Londoners faced the Lancashire side in 2008, Wenger admitted he could not justify dropping the superstars he had to give Bentley the football he wanted.

The Frenchman said: "When you have many young players you cannot keep them all. The most important thing is that you develop them as a player and they have a big career. At some stage you have to consider the quality of the player and what is in front of him.

"At the time the players in front of Bentley, like Ljungberg and Pires were better than him. He wanted to play more central, in the Dennis Bergkamp role. I felt at the time he was not ready. He would be more ready today."

To watch David Bentley fight Jody Morris and other fights involving previous Premier League heroes, secure your tickets at www.proprojectpromotions.com and join us for a night of drama, glamour, and giving back.

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