Arsenal fan favourite Jack Wilshere moved to AFC Bournemouth on a loan deal on deadline day, despite interest from Italian Serie A side AS Roma.
In the end it was a four-way battle for 24-year-old English midfielder Jack Wilshere, who was made available on loan by Arsenal just the day before deadline day. Serie A clubs Roma and AC Milan were competing with Crystal Palace and Bournemouth for his signature, but Wilshere ended up joining the Cherries on a one-year deal.
The decision to send Jack to one of their domestic rivals was baffling, especially considering that both club and manager Arsene Wenger hold him in high regard and wouldn’t want to strengthen a Premier League side when he could easily have gone abroad.
AS Roma were considered to be strong favourites to land Wilshere for most of deadline day, but BBC have now revealed that Arsenal blocked the move to Rome because the Romans had blocked their deal for Kostas Manolas.
The Gunners have had a long standing interest in Roma’s 25-year-old centre-back, having made an attempt to sign him last summer. They tried again this transfer window, as their long pursuit of Shkodran Mustafi often looked like it was on the brink of failure.
However, Roma rebuffed the Gunners’ attempts to sign Manolas, and consequently the Premier League club refused to do business with them for Wilshere.
Wilshere would have been a good addition to the Roma squad, especially considering that they have lost Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic to Serie A rivals Juventus. However, Roma will now have to find a central midfielder within their ranks to replace Pjanic, as they haven’t signed a new central midfielder in the summer.
Arsenal’s hunt for a defender may have been long and winding, but the Gunners eventually got their man. Shkodran Mustafi has officially joined the club from Valencia, for a reported fee of £35 million. The German international is being viewed as the long term successor to his compatriot Per Mertesacker.
