‘We had offers from Arsenal’: Club CEO confirms Gunners summer bid for 23-year-old linked with £38.5m move

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Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali has confirmed to Tuttomercatoweb that Arsenal did indeed make a bid for Manuel Locatelli in the summer, but insisted that the midfielder only wanted to join Juventus.

Locatelli was one of the most talked about players during the previous window. Of course, he was part of the Italy squad that won Euro 2020.

The tournament came off the back of an outstanding season with Sassuolo. And it was suggested that the Gunners were keen to try and keep him in England following the Azzurri’s Wembley win.

In fact, it was reported at one stage that they had made a bid of £38.5 million to land the 23-year-old.

Obviously, during the transfer window, it can be difficult to know what is true and what is speculation or simply incorrect.

But Carnevali has now confirmed that they did, in fact, receive a bid from Arsenal. However, he hinted that they never stood a chance of securing his signature.

“Locatelli deserved Juve and he has helped us a lot over the years. This year we sold Marlon for 12 million, Caputo to Sampdoria and Locatelli on the conditions we wanted after two months of negotiations,” he told Tuttomercatoweb.

“Manuel just wanted to go to Juve, we had offers from Arsenal and other clubs but there was nothing to do.”

Locatelli signing would have capped off what is proving to be superb window for Arsenal

It does appear that Arsenal enjoyed a brilliant summer window. Several of their signings have proved to be an outstanding additions.

One area of the field where they perhaps need to improve further however, is in the middle of the park.

With that in mind, a move for Locatelli would have unquestionably been the icing on the cake for the Gunners.

Obviously, it was disappointing for Arsenal to miss out. But perhaps there is the smallest crumb of comfort that the Gunners seemingly could not have done much more to land the Italian.