Revealed! How £4m Extra Fee Ruined Arsenal’s Deal For This Roma Defender

Roma’s Konstantinos Manolas has revealed that he was close to signing for Arsenal in the summer but the deal failed to happen as they were not willing to pay the extra £4m for the transfer to happen.

Reports say that Arsenal were willing to pay only £8m for the talented defender, a fee at which the deal was never going to happen as Olympiacos were not ready to settle for anything less than £12m. Arsenal sold Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona in the summer for a fee of  £15m but did not sign anyone to replace the Belgian. As a result, they find themselves in a spot of bother right now.

Roma’s rivals Juventus were also linked with the Greek defender. Manolas told Il Tempo, “It’s the truth, Juventus sought me out after the World Cup. I could also have ended up at Arsenal, but I never went to London as it was said. Now for me there is only Roma. And I’m very happy to have come here.”

The 23-year old had a good outing with his Olympiacos last season which earned him the respect for big European clubs. Given Arsenal’s personnel at the back, Manolas would have easily been a 1st choice in the center back positions. However, Arsenal’s stubbornness in the transfer market once again took over as they lost a player who has the potential to be a future star.

Roma were more desperate to sign Manolas as they had sold Mehdi Benatia to Bayern Munich. Both Roma and Arsenal were top candidates for him, but in the end it was a question of who wanted him more.

The defender signed a 5-year contract that will keep him at the club till 2019. However, if he realises his potential in the near future, then a move to an even bigger club might happen in the next few years.