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“There Were Serious Contacts” – Player Confirms Arsenal Talks

By on February 5, 2015

French defender Loic Perrin has confirmed that Arsenal held serious talks with his agent about a potential January move, and it sounds like he was disappointed things didn’t work out.

We were linked with a number of players throughout January as Arsene Wenger looked to bring in another centre-back to offer support to Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.

At one point Perrin looked to be the most likely candidate to join as reports suggested we were closing in on a £6m deal for the 29-year-old.

However, a move failed to materialise in the end and Arsene eventually signed Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal for £11.2m.

Perrin has now been reflecting on our interest by confirming that we held ‘serious’ talks with his agent and admitted that he would have found it difficult to turn down a move to Arsenal had we pushed ahead with a deal.

He told reporters:

“There were serious contacts via my agent. I think I was on a shortlist but not at the very top apparently,”

“A transfer in this window, it is difficult. But it is difficult to refuse Arsenal. I have always said have if I have to leave St Etienne, one day, it would be for a bigger club, a club that plays in the Champions League.

“A club like Arsenal, I don’t think many Ligue 1 players would refuse.” source: Standard

A lot of Arsenal fans were keen to see Perrin come to the club last month but I certainly think we made the right decision opting for Gabriel. For a start, Perrin is five years older and I feel Gabriel will suit our style of play more.

Let’s hope our new centre-back can settle quickly and get his debut out the way soon. There’s no chance he’ll start against Tottenham on Saturday but he may come off the bench to tighten things up at the back if we’re leading with 10 minutes to go. What a baptism of fire that will be for the lad!