Arsenal made a €70 million January transfer window bid to Barcelona, before eventually landing Brighton & Hove Albion star, Leandro Trossard, it's been revealed.
The Gunners spent just £21m on Trossard with the deal potentially rising to just £27m – before committing £20m to Jorginho on deadline day and a similar amount on defender Jakub Kiwior, in what was a busy month for manager Mikel Arteta strengthening his squad.
But though Arsenal didn't spend too much on players individually during the month, they were prepared to pay big for the right profile, allegedly matching Chelsea's £88m offer for Mykhaylo Mudryk. Now, it's been revealed that Barcelona received a massive bid for one of their players, too.
Spanish outlet Sport has claimed that the north Londoners had a €70m offer for Barça winger Raphinha turned down in the winter transfer window, just mere months after both they and Chelsea missed out on signing the Brazilian from Leeds United.
Raphinha hasn't lived up to the heights of last season at Camp Nou, despite being a regular in Xavi's table-topping team. Arteta is said to be a big fan of the player and Arsenal perhaps tested the Catalans' resolve because of the financial problems that they are currently in.
Despite signing Trossard as a Plan B, the news gives a few clues as to the future of Arsenal's dealings in the transfer market.
Raphinha is primarily a left-footed right-winger in the mould of Bukayo Saka – but Arsenal have instead signed a two-footed left-winger in Trossard who has provided competition to Gabriel Martinelli on the other flank. This perhaps suggests that they could return for a third time to try and prise the former Leeds star to the Emirates, giving them another option on Saka's wing.
The value of the bid is also revealing. Assuming that Arsenal were also prepared to sign another big-money midfielder – €70m bids for Moises Caicedo were turned down – it is safe to assume that the Gunners will have well over £100m to spend this summer, regardless of Champions League qualification.
Raphinha is valued at around €50m by Transfermarkt.
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Interest in Declan Rice is ramping up – and the Gunners may have to break their transfer record for him – while Folarin Balogun's form on loan is posing interesting questions for Arteta.
Meanwhile, Glen Johnson has stated that Arsenal's success is temporary.
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