Brazil star claims the Gunners didn’t have the funds to bring him to the Emirates.
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Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Bernard claims that he almost joined Arsenal last summer, only they simply couldn’t afford to complete the deal, according to Goal.com.
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The 21-year-old, who was named in Luiz Felipe Scolari Brazilian World Cup squad this week, joined the Ukrainian giants last summer in a a £21.5m deal from Atletico Mineiro in his homeland.
All summer long he had been linked with a move to north London outfit Tottenham Hotpsur, but revealed that for all the transfer talk, it was only the Ukrainian champions who were willing to stump up the cash in order to bring him on board.
“We had offers from Tottenham, and according to my Atletico president Arsenal were interested too, but didn’t have the money,” Bernard told FourFourTwo magazine.
“All of it happened in a moment Europe was facing a serious financial crisis, so there was interest from various teams, but the only one able to pay straight away was Shakhtar.”
Bernard has been a key figure in a heavily disrupted season for Shakhtar this term, clocking up 25 appearances and scoring twice in the process.
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