Riyad Mahrez claims Arsenal have come the closest to signing him from Leicester City.
The 26-year-old was among the candidates to replace Alexis Sanchez this summer as Arsene Wenger considered offloading the Chilean due to his precarious contract situation.
But the Gunners made a more concrete move for the Algeria international a year earlier after Leicester had won the Premier League title and Mahrez was crowned the division’s player of the season.
The Daily Mail reports that Mahrez held talks with Arsenal’s chief transfer negotiator Dick Law in the summer of 2016, while Wenger had approached the winger’s representatives.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Mahrez said he was ’50-50′ about leaving Leicester and was asked why the move to north London failed to materialise.
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‘I don’t know what happened,’ he replied.
‘It’s football. You never know what will happen.’
It was also confirmed that Arsenal did not follow up their interest in Mahrez this summer, and the winger only received an offer from Roma after handing in a transfer request at the end of last season.
More: Arsenal FC
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