Theo Walcott expressed his regret that one Chelsea player did not end up signing for Arsenal instead in the summer transfer window.
Arsenal, who won their first league title since 2004 last season, bolstered their squad over the summer with the impressive signings of Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa and Christos Tzolis.
However, the Gunners did not have it all their own way in the transfer market, failing to land several top targets in their pursuit of a marquee attacking signing.
The Gunners explored a blockbuster move for Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, who rejected their interest to instead sign a new contract in the Spanish capital.
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And throughout the window, Arsenal were also keen to sign Julian Alvarez, but the Atletico Madrid striker seemingly had no desire to return to the Premier League.
Arsenal also missed out on Morgan Rogers, a top target early in the window, with Chelsea swooping in to sign the 24-year-old in a huge £117million deal shortly after the World Cup.
Rogers has made a bright start to life at Stamford Bridge, with a goal and an assist in his first two games, and will want to show Arsenal what they missed out on when the two sides meet at the Emirates on Sunday.
And Walcott did not hide the fact that he would have loved to have seen the English midfielder sign for his former side instead this summer.
Building his combined Arsenal and Chelsea XI on TikTok, Walcott had to pick between Tzolis and Rogers, and said: ‘Tzolis, I like him, but it’s Rogers.
‘We should have got him, oh well.’
Walcott is not the only person frustrated by Arsenal’s failure to sign Rogers, with Ian Wright saying he was ‘gutted’ to see the Aston Villa talent sign for Alonso’s Chelsea.
‘I think we did need Rogers,’ Wright told Stick to Football.
‘You say we have got those types of players but that is what Mikel wanted. It is a position where we need that player.
‘Of course Saka is back, Odegaard is back, Havertz is back and playing together, but he wanted that difference-maker.
‘He [Rogers] is the one we were linked with ages ago and he would have loved to have come, I can feel it.
Arsenal’s summer transfer business
INCOMINGS
- Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle) – £75m
- Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa) – £51m
- Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen) – £35m
- Christos Tzolis (Club Brugge) – £34m
- Illan Meslier (Leeds) – free transfer
OUTGOINGS
- Gabriel Martinelli (Al-Hilal) – £56m
- Leandro Trossard (Besiktas) – £17m
- Jakub Kiwior (Porto) – £14.8m
- Gabriel Jesus (Barcelona) – £8.6m
- Fabio Vieira (Hamburg) – £8.6m
- Christian Norgaard (Everton) – £7m
‘There’s something that’s happened with Arsenal with the way they were going for Vini. If you’re a player and you see a team going for him, you think, “I thought they were interested in me?”.
‘It is the player the manager wanted. Chelsea thought, well if you’re not going to pay it, we’ll pay it. I’m gutted, I would have loved him to come.’
Speaking earlier in the week, Arteta insisted Arsenal had no regrets about their decision to sell Martinelli and Trossard after failing to sign another attacker in the latter stages of the window.
‘The selling of players can come from different aspects as well,’ the Spaniard said.
‘It’s not always the same one. That’s part of the responsibility we have at the football club.
‘I understand the point of view, but we have to understand the amount of minutes those players played and the ones that were injured, especially in the first six months.
‘Then the data shows something completely different, but it is what it is. This is what we have and we already have some very good players.’
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