To secure the £6 million deal before Manchester United and Barcelona, Arsenal made sure Gabriel Martinelli “couldn’t escape” their grasp.
The Brazilian forward, who just recently agreed to a new deal in north London, was playing for a minor club back home when European powerhouses started to show an interest in him.
Francis Cagigao, a former scout for Arsenal, has acknowledged that the team had reservations about Martinelli but that they nevertheless seized the chance to recruit him when other clubs passed it up.
He was an hour and a half away from Sao Paulo and played for Ituano, according to Cagigao. “Since youth football, we have been monitoring him.
“We were apprehensive, but after I started visiting him, he completely won me over.
He could have been signed by Manchester United, but they chose not to, and Barcelona could have done the same because he tried out at La Masia. However, they dismissed him, so we pounded the door shut to prevent him from leaving.
Cagigao acknowledged that Arsenal missed out on a few great names over his more than two decades of service to the club.
Messi’s condition was unregulated, and obtaining a work permit in the UK was not conceivable, he continued.
Horacio Gaggioli was his representative at the time, and I tried to meet with him multiple times but it was difficult.
“A somewhat complicated bureaucratic matter prevented the Gerard Pique trade from being completed. Finally, from that outstanding Barcelona youth team, we acquired Cesc Fabregas.