Arsenal made a bid to sign Sporting Lisbon starlet Joelson Fernandes during the summer transfer window, it has been claimed.
The teenager winger has been linked with a host of top clubs, including the Gunners.
Now the player's father and agent has said that Arsenal made an offer of 20million euros (just over £18million) for the 17-year-old.
However, this was apparently knocked back as the youngster ended up signing a new contract with his Portuguese club.
The likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and RB Leipzig were all also said to be keen on Fernandes.
It is claimed that Arsenal's bid was the highest - but not enough to secure the player's services.
"It had to be a thoughtful decision, because my wish as a father and agent, on the day that Joelson Fernandes leaves Sporting, is to be friendly and through the big door, but not through the back door," Eusebio Mango Fernandes told Guinea Bissau news outlet O Democrata.
"It was an extremely difficult and very complicated process, because there were tough moments in the negotiations for Joelson Fernandes to stay at Sporting.
"My wish was always for him to stay at the club, but due to his quality as a footballer, he had calls from several European clubs.
"Despite these very tempting offers, as an agent, I ended up dispensing with these invitations, despite knowing that I needed those millionaire offers, but I thought that in life money isn’t everything, because we must be aware that there’s a word called 'gratitude', for that, we are grateful to Sporting for what they gave."
