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Agent claims club ‘rejected £35m offer from Arsenal’

By on January 11, 2017

The agent of Kostas Manolas has claimed that Arsenal failed with a £35m move for the AS Roma centre-back last summer.

Manolas has been strongly linked with a switch to Arsenal for several years with Arsene Wenger reportedly keen before the defender left Olympiacos for Roma in 2014.

The Greek international has continued to develop in to one of the best central defenders in European football during his time in Italy and it seems the boss has maintained his interest in the player.

That’s because Manolas’s agent John Evangelopoulos has revealed that Arsenal tabled a £35m offer for the defender last summer but we refused to meet Roma’s demands after they knocked back our opening bid.

Evangelopoulos went on to suggest that Manolas could finally be on the move this summer but with Manchester United and Barcelona reportedly keen, it’s unlikely we’ll see him coming to the Emirates.

The agent is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“Over the summer Roma rejected an offer of €40m (£35m) from Arsenal. The Gunners were interested but Roma’s demands were too much for the English club.

“Probably a sale in June? I cannot say for sure, but probably there will be something this summer. But in general in the world of football, it is difficult to make predictions.”

Manolas would have been a superb addition to the squad had we been able to get a deal agreed as he has all the attributes to be a world class defender and at 25, he’s now approaching his prime years.

However, but I don’t see us renewing our interest in the player this summer as we ended up signing Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia for around £35m back in August so there is little chance we’ll splash out big money on another centre-back any time soon.