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“There Was An Approach From Arsenal And I Wanted To Go There”
Ivory Coast international Serge Aurier has confirmed he held talks with Arsenal earlier this summer and was keen on making the move to north London.
The 21-year-old was hotly tipped to join Arsenal earlier in the summer when Arsene Wenger had supposedly made him his number one target to replace Bacary Sagna.
However, despite Aurier impressing at the World Cup, our interest seemed to fade as we switched our attention to Mathieu Debuchy and we eventually signed the Frenchman from Newcastle in a £10m deal last week.
Aurier has now confirmed that he held talks with Arsenal after we made a formal approach for his services and he was keen on the move, but in the end it wasn’t to be.
French outlet Get France Football broke the news on Twitter earlier:
Serge Aurier confirms to @le10sport that he had talks with Arsenal about a transfer. More to follow. #AFC #ToulouseFC
— Get French Football (@GFN_France) July 21, 2014
Serge Aurier: "There was an approach from Arsenal + I wanted to go there, but it didn't happen. I am very happy for Mathieu Debuchy." #AFC
— Get French Football (@GFN_France) July 21, 2014
I must admit I was slightly disappointed when we dropped our interest in Aurier as he’s a hugely exciting full-back, but Debuchy was the ‘sensible’ choice and as Arsene said, he seemed like the natural successor to Sagna.
There are some who feel we should still sign Aurier as a long-term replacement for 29-year-old Debuchy. Which isn’t a bad shout, but I can’t see Arsene spending over £8m on a back-up full-back this summer when we have so many other positions to strengthen.
Hopefully we don’t live to regret missing out on Aurier though. I’m sure he’ll be a fine signing for someone this summer, most likely PSG…
SAGunner
July 21, 2014 at 8:48 pm
I’d love to have seen him at Arsenal. Why did we shy away – Was the french bargain basement cheaper?
Norsegooner
July 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Or perhaps more experienced an a first choice for a big football nation
andy
July 21, 2014 at 11:05 pm
we could still sign him up and use him on the wing as well as left back allowing debushy to be covered if he went forward on a run. very usefull squad player .
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Oresanya Iyanu
July 22, 2014 at 12:05 pm
We could still sign him
Marc Massin
July 22, 2014 at 12:22 pm
Why do we “fart-arse” about so much? we lost Loic Remy, Serge Aurier, Khedira, Schneiderlin all because we couldn’t make up our minds. Our midfield is our achilles heal. Sorry Arteta and Flamini but 90 mins is too much for you guys!
richard in spain
July 23, 2014 at 4:40 pm
Totally agree with you Marc get the pen out and just do it that’s how to win hings
Cynicayke
July 22, 2014 at 6:42 pm
He’s 21 years old. And, unless the transfer collapse has soured him, he’s still an Arsenal fan. There’s plenty of time left in his career for us to sign him, and he’ll always want to come over.