‘They really wanted him’: Romano says Arsenal were in contact with £35m player, but couldn’t get him

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Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Arsenal were desperate to sign Tammy Abraham, but were just unable to do a deal on the Arsenal Lounge.

Constant contact

Abraham ended up signing for Roma, but even in the days leading up to the transfer Arsenal had been in contact with the player.

However, doing a deal proved to be too difficult to get over the line.

And Romano said: “It will be interesting to see what happens with Lacazette in particular because they were trying to find a solution in the last few days.

“They wanted Tammy Abraham, they really wanted him.

“They were trying to stay in contact with his agent, with the player. But Roma have been faster because they sold Dzeko to Inter.”

Arsenal’s failure to land Abraham means that they still may have to look for another number nine this summer.

Doubts have emerged over the futures of both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, after they did not feature on opening day against Brentford.

Striker needed

Arsenal’s lack of options beyond their two most senior strikers was exposed then too.

The Gunners had to select youngster Folarin Balogun for the contest, but he didn’t make much of an impact, as the Gunners slipped to a 2-0 defeat.

The problem for Arsenal is that landing a new striker is unlikely to be cheap.

And without selling fringe players it seems unlikely that they will be able to pull off a transfer.