Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund's interest in PSV Eindhoven forward Donyell Malen has highlighted one of Arsenal's greatest transfer mistakes in recent memory.
The Dutch frontman joined Arsenal from Ajax's academy when he was just 16-years-old back in the summer of 2015, citing both Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry as two of his footballing idols.
The pacey striker quickly gathered a reputation as one of the north Londoners' best prospects, bagging 14 goals and eight assists across his debut campaign for the Gunners' youth sides in the 2015/16 season.
After impressing for the youth teams he was called up for Arsenal's 2017 pre-season tour of Australia and China, making his senior debut for the club in a 2-0 win over Sydney FC in July.
However, then Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was put off by the dealings with his infamous agent Mino Raiola and Malen eventually asked to leave the club in search of guaranteed first-team opportunities - a request which was granted later that summer as he joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
Fast forward four years and Malen has established himself as one of Eredivise's most talented youngsters, scoring 55 times and contributing with a further 24 assists in 116 games, numbers that read even more impressive considering he has been deployed as a winger in a plethora of those fixtures.
And Liverpool, along with Borussia Dortmund, are reportedly interested in signing Malen this summer, with German outlet Sport Bild reporting that the Bundesliga side have the edge over the Reds as they plan to use the money they received for new Manchester United wideman Jadon Sancho to sign the young Dutchman.
Malen would likely command a fee close to £30million, a far cry from the £540,000 Arsenal sold him for in the summer of 2017.
The Gunners will hope they can be more shrewd in the transfer market this summer as they look to offload a number of unwanted assets in the coming weeks.
Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira, versatile English defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles and former Chelsea wantaway Willian are all current members of the squad that have been touted with a move away from the Emirates this summer.
