‘That was the plan’: Arsenal wanted to sign £75m midfielder alongside Declan Rice – journalist

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Arsenal spent big in the summer on revamping their midfielder as Declan Rice and Kai Havertz both joined the club for in excess of £150m.

The Gunners’ midfield had looked solid since the addition of Rice, but, it has to be said that Havertz hasn’t hit the ground running alongside him.

Interestingly, this wasn’t always the plan for Arsenal’s midfield revamp.

Indeed, according to Kaya Kaynak, speaking on The Arsenal Way Podcast, the Gunners’ original strategy revolved around signing both Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo this year, but, after realising Caicedo wasn’t going to be available for around £75m in January, the Gunners had to pivot to a different strategy.

Arsenal wanted Caicedo as well as Rice

Kaynak shared what he knows about Arsenal’s prior transfer plans.

“That was the plan. In January they thought they could get Caicedo for £70/75m. But Caicedo signed a new contract which made things more complicated. Plans change, Arsenal shifted to Jorginho and once they had Jorginho, Partey, Elneny and wanted Rice as well, it was unlikely that they were going to get both Caicedo and Rice. The plan was that in January, but that changed,” Kaynak said.

Caicedo and Rice could’ve been brilliant

It’s a real shame that Arsenal weren’t able to pull this double swoop off, because the idea of Caicedo playing alongside Rice in this Arsenal side is utterly mouth-watering.

Both players are absolutely brilliant defensively, while they’re also fantastic when it comes to moving the ball as well.

As a pairing, they would’ve been a brilliant complement to Arsenal’s remarkable attacking quartet ahead of them, but, sadly, we’ll never get to see these two playing in the same Arsenal side.

This may go down as one of the most intriguing ‘what if?’ transfer stories of this era.