Arsenal’s pursuit of Vinicius Junior has unsurprisingly ended in failure with the Brazilian signing a new deal but he is not the first high-profile name the Gunners have missed out on.
Vinicius Junior has committed his future to the Madrid side, leaving Arsenal going back to the drawing board.
Here’s six times that’s happened under the reign of Mikel Arteta.
Vinicius Junior
It is a result that many Arsenal fans would have predicted but the ‘saga’ went on just long enough for them to begin to dream.
The signing of Vinicius Junior would have been a monumental one not just for Arsenal but for the Premier League who are more used to seeing their megastars head to La Liga and not the other way round.
But anyone familiar with the way football works could have foreseen that it was a game of chicken between Vinicius and Madrid with both ultimately wanting the player to stay.
Madrid eventually upped their offer and while he is still not on a par with Kylian Mbappe, the pay rise was enough for him to commit his future.
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Dusan Vlahovic
One of the earliest rejections in the Arteta era was striker Dusan Vlahovic who gave the London club the cold shoulder in favour of a move to Juventus.
Arsenal were very keen on the then-Fiorentina striker but when they attempted talks in January, Vlahovic’s agents simply did not answer the phone.
The reason was that Vlahovic had his heart set on Juventus and with no opportunity to even try to convince him, Arsenal abandoned the pursuit.
Raphinha
Another case of a player simply wanting another club came with Raphinha who had his heart set on Barcelona.
While he was at Leeds, Arsenal submitted a bid and while it fell well below the Yorkshire side’s valuation, they were dissuaded from raising it by the player who was only ever interested in Barcelona.
“Deco always told me that Raphinha only wanted Barcelona” Arsenal sporting director Edu told Sky Sports News after the Brazilian winger joined the La Liga giants in 2022.
Bernardo Silva
Before he became indispensable, Bernardo Silva was keen to quit Manchester City with Guardiola admitting that he was part of a group of players looking for more game time.
In 2021, that news was music to Arsenal’s ears but the player knocked them back as he was concerned the Gunners were not at his level. Ouch.
Mykhailo Mudryk
This is very much a bullet dodged in hindsight but Arsenal were definitely rejected by Mudryk first time round.
While Chelsea were willing to pay €5m than their London rivals, it ultimately came down to the player’s choice who gave the green light to the Stamford Bridge club and a deal was quickly agreed.
Arsenal fans won’t be too bothered by that now though.
Benjamin Sesko
While it was Arsenal who rejected Sesko last summer back in 2024 it was the player who said no.
Arsenal were after a new number nine and identified the Leipzig man as the perfect choice but he thought it best to stay in Germany, signing a new contract before later earning a move to Manchester United.
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