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Report: Arsenal Almost Signed Brazilian Midfielder

By on September 17, 2013

Arsenal had a deal in place to sign Lazio midfielder Hernanes before Mesut Ozil became available, according to newspaper reports.

We snapped up Ozil for £42.5m on deadline day after Real Madrid agreed to sell him following their £86m purchase of Gareth Bale from Tottenham. Arsenal fans were delirious when the deal was confirmed and the German playmaker made an excellent start to life at the Emirates with a superb display against Sunderland on Saturday.

However, it could have been a lot different. According to the Express newspaper – who cite reports emanating from Italy – we were on the verge of signing Brazilian midfielder Hernanes from Lazio before we got word of Ozil’s availability.

Hernanes has been linked with a move to Arsenal in the past while Spurs were also linked this summer, and it appears we had a deal in place to bring the £20m-rated 28-year-old to north London before eventually switching out attention to Ozil.

I think it’s safe to say we should be happy with which player we ended up with. No disrespect to Hernanes – he’s a fine player who’s been capped 17 times by Brazil – but he’s no Ozil.

At 28 years of age, he’s also four years older than our German ace, so despite the fact he cost over twice the amount Hernanes would have set us back, I think we should be pleased at how things worked out in the end.

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