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Transfers
Fabrizio Romano says Arsenal turned down ‘complete’ striker in January
For months, Arsenal fans and Gunners-leaning pundits alike called for the club to sign a new striker.
For instance, Ian Wright recently a new striker at Arsenal would help reduce some of the “desperation” around the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal did try their luck with a £70million bid for Ollie Watkins, and Arsenal also made an approach for Evan Ferguson.
However, by the time the transfer window slammed shut, the Gunners didn’t make a single signing.
Arsenal were also offered a number of players, such as Alvaro Morata, but they seemingly turned down the opportunities presented to them.
Now, Fabrizio Romano has shared why the Gunners rejected the chance to sign the Spain international.
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Fabrizio Romano says Arsenal wanted to save themselves for summer window
Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, spoke about Morata, who was offered to Arsenal with the same conditions he was offered to Galatasaray.
The AC Milan forward has gone to the Turkish Super Lig club on a loan deal with a buy option, and Romano hinted the Gunners would’ve had the same arrangement.
“Morata was offered to Arsenal, so the opportunity to return to the Premier League after the experience he had in London with Chelsea,” said Romano.
“It was discussed internally, but then Arsenal decided to skip this opportunity to go for different ideas, to stay with the current squad, and then in the summer invest full money on the striker.
“I also expect Arsenal to be very busy in the midfield because they want to do something important also in that position.
“So Morata was an option for Arsenal but they decided not to proceed and then he ended up joining Galatasaray.”
How Morata has been doing in recent years
Morata hasn’t been doing particularly badly for the most part, but he’s not exactly been the most prolific of strikers.
| Club | Season | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Yellow cards | Red cards | Minutes |
| Chelsea/Atletico Madrid | 18/19 | 41 | 15 | 1 | 10 | – | 2.709′ |
| Atletico Madrid | 19/20 | 44 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2.801′ |
| Juventus | 20/21 | 44 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 2.824′ |
| Juventus | 21/22 | 48 | 12 | 9 | 5 | – | 3.205′ |
| Atletico Madrid | 22/23 | 45 | 15 | 3 | 5 | – | 2.496′ |
| Atletico Madrid | 23/24 | 48 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2.968′ |
| AC Milan/Galatasaray | 24/25 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 8 | – | 1.771′ |
However, he’s yet to get into double figures for goals and assists combined this season, which may well have been of concern to Arsenal.
In addition, Morata only managed 24 goals and six assists from 72 outings for Chelsea, and also missed a fair few big chances while in blue.
Antonio Conte described Morata as a “complete player” back in 2017, but also admitted he had “a lot of room for improvement”.
That said, Morata has already scored for Galatasaray, so it remains to be seen how well he continues to do and whether Arsenal will regret passing up on him.