'They were ready': Agent says Arsenal wanted to sign Serie A defender but he won't be moving now

The agent of one Serie A defender has confirmed that Arsenal were interested in signing his client this summer.

The Gunners have been on the lookout for new players since the start of the summer transfer window. They had a really quiet June, but Edu and Mikel Arteta seem to be a lot busier in July.

David Raya’s loan has been turned into a permanent deal, and work is going on behind the scenes to strike deals to sign a number of their other targets.

However, one defender who Arsenal were said to be interested in will definitely not be moving to the Emirates Stadium this summer.

Andrea Cambiaso’s agent confirms interest from Arsenal

Arsenal are on the market looking for a new defender this summer.

The Gunners are well-stocked on the right side of their backline. They have William Saliba, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurrien Timber available on that side of the pitch.

Arsenal do have the numbers required on the left too, but the quality is just not the same.

Gabriel Magalhaes is an unbelievable defender, but an argument can be made that Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior are both replaceable.

That’s why Arteta has deployed Tomiyasu and Timber at left-back on multiple occasions.

A new left-sided defender is the priority, and Arsenal have been heavily linked with Riccardo Calafiori of Bologna in the Serie A.

However, before the Italy international came into the picture, reports had claimed that Arsenal were interested in Andrea Cambiaso of Juventus.

The defender’s agent, Giovanni Bia, has now confirmed that Arsenal were one of the clubs interested in Cambiaso and were even ‘ready to do something’.

However, the player wanted to stay at Juventus and signed a new deal there, thus ruling out a move away from Turin in this window.

Bia told TuttoJuve: “The negotiation (with Juventus over a new contract) was born and concluded within a couple of days because when you work with intelligent people, you always solve problems as quickly as possible.

“Both parties wanted to stay, there was this common desire, so the economic aspect really counted little for Andrea. We didn’t argue too much, we were happy with the offer we were made and we accepted it.

“Many clubs were looking for him like Arsenal, Manchester United and Real Madrid, who were ready to do something, but he gave his priority to the Bianconeri.”

Why Arsenal haven’t signed Riccardo Calafiori yet

It is clear as day at this point that Calafiori is the defender Arsenal want to sign this summer.

Talks between the Gunners and Bologna have been going on for a couple of weeks now, and Calafiori has even rejected Chelsea for Arsenal – he’s that keen on the move.

However, the two sides are yet to find an agreement.

Fabrizio Romano revealed on Thursday that Bologna asked for Jakub Kiwior to be included in the Calafiori deal, but the Pole is not too keen to move there.

That has stalled the deal, and it will be interesting to see if either party will budge to get this transfer over the line before Arsenal fly out to the United States for their pre-season tour.