Arsenal rejected the chance to sign ‘really good’ player and got Christian Norgaard instead

Arsenal have been brilliant in the transfer window in recent years, it has to be said.

Mikel Arteta has built a Premier League winning team through smart planning, clever transfers and a brilliant knack of identifying top talent that meshes well together.

However, that said, Arsenal haven’t got it right every single time they’ve dipped into the market.

Viktor Gyokeres hasn’t quite gelled into this Arsenal squad yet, Raheem Sterling was a complete busted flush by the time he arrived at the Emirates, while Christian Norgaard came and went without playing much football at all.

Norgaard wasn’t a great signing, and now, it has been revealed that Arsenal passed up on a potentially much better option.

Arsenal rejected Chema Andres to sign Christian Norgaard

According to Miguel Delaney, writing on his Inside Football Newsletter, Arsenal rejected the chance to sign Chema Andres last summer in order to pursue Norgaard instead.

In hindsight, it’s hard to call that anything but a transfer mistake.

Chema Andres has recently joined Brighton, and he’s already playing a starring role for the Seagulls. He’s been compared to Rodri in recent weeks, while Arsenal saw first-hand at the weekend how good he is.

In fairness, you can understand why Arsenal may have gone for Norgaard over Chema. He was a Premier League proven option at a time when Arsenal needed a bit of experience to replace Jorginho.

Arsenal may have missed out on a potential star in Chema Andres, but there can’t be too many complaints at the Emirates. After all, the Gunners did become Premier League champions last season, and Norgaard did play a part in that.

Chema is a ‘really good’ player, as he has been described in the past, but, to be honest, even if he was at Arsenal, he probably wouldn’t get into the midfield based on the amount of talent currently in that area of the team.