Arsenal seemingly made a big late effort to seal the transfer of Adam Hlozek before he ended up completing a move to Bayer Leverkusen instead.
Hlozek looks like he could be set to take the game by storm in years to come, having shone as one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe during his time at previous club Sparta Prague.
Now, the 19-year-old will get the chance to show what he can do at Leverkusen, who have often been a fine stepping stone club for some of the brightest prospects in Europe.
EXCLUSIVE: Premier League star “expects” imminent Arsenal move
It seems Arsenal were very keen to try signing him this summer, though, with the player’s father Zbynek Hlozek telling iSport.cz that the Gunners entered the running for his son’s signature late on, but ultimately failed with their intervention.
He also said some other big names were keen on Hlozek, saying: “There was Newcastle, they were somewhere else financially. Lyon, Sevilla, Dortmund, Bayern… however, we wanted to give the next step a little sense, so as not to jump to a mega club right away.
“When Leverkusen was almost done, we heard about a huge intervention from Arsenal. But the negotiation was already a long way down the line.
“Borussia Monchengladbach were the same, they spoke to Adam personally twice in the spring.
“They were excited about him but they didn’t have the financial strength.”
Arsenal have instead signed Gabriel Jesus to come in up front, but they could arguably still do with more signings in that position due to the recent departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.