Arsenal appear to have missed out on young winger Ilias Akhomach with the 19-year-old set to sign for Villarreal in the coming days.
That is according to a report from Sport, which notes that the youngster is ready to sign a four-year contract with the Yellow Submarine.
It had appeared that there was a good chance that Ilias Akhomach would end up in the Premier League. Reports from Sport previously suggested that Leeds had won the race for the teenager who is about to leave Barcelona on a free.
Akhomach to snub Arsenal for Villarreal move
That move seemingly broke down as Victor Orta left and the Whites edged closer to relegation. But there was also interest from Arsenal.
And Sport suggests that the Gunners were able to make a more lucrative offer for the wide-man. However, it has been claimed that Akhomach has been won over by the project at Villarreal.
His contract is set to include a release clause worth up to £25.8 million.
Of course, it is not going to define Arsenal’s window that they are seemingly about to miss out on Akhomach. The youngster has only made a handful of appearances for Barca’s first-team. So he is some way off being the finished article – even if he has been labelled a ‘spectacular‘ talent.
And Arsenal do already have a number of really exciting young players knocking on the door. The only winger they really need this summer is someone who can push Bukayo Saka after he started to look jaded towards the end of the campaign.
The report notes that Villarreal have won Akhomach over with the project. But ultimately, if Arsenal had desperately wanted to sign the starlet, you would imagine that it was a deal they would have got done.