7 midfield transfer targets Arsenal dodged a bullet on: Lemar, Aouar, Buendia…
From Patrick Vieira and Cesc Fabregas to Martin Odegaard, Arsenal have had some brilliant midfielders in the Premier League era – & some who the club will be glad they never signed.
Arsenal struggled to replace the aforementioned Vieira and Fabregas throughout the 2010s, finding themselves linked to a host of ‘flavour of the month’ targets.
And we’ve picked out seven midfielders whose failure to sign for the Gunners will not be rued by anybody of an Arsenal persuasion.
Houssem Aouar
Aouar was one of Arsenal’s top targets throughout the summer transfer window after starring for Lyon during their run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019-20.
The Gunners saw multiple offers for the 22-year-old rejected by Lyon, as the French club stood strong on their £55.5million valuation.
“I’m happy to stay at Lyon,” Aouar told TF1 in October 2020. “It’s my city, it’s my club. It gives me immense pride to represent Lyon.
“It wasn’t really Arsenal or nothing else, although at the end it was close to that. Really, a choice had to be made and I’m happy to stay here.
“I spoke about it a lot with sporting director Juninho. He shows me confidence every day and it’s a real pleasure to work with him. To stay here for another season – or more – with him, it’s a great pride.”
Arsenal signed Thomas Partey instead, who remains an important part of their midfield, whereas Aouar eventually left Lyon to spend a year at Roma before moving to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ittihad.
William Carvalho
Carvalho was once described as the future of Arsenal’s midfield at the height of the mania that persistently linked him with a transfer to the Premier League in the middle of the 2010s.
Carvalho burst onto the scene with Sporting Lisbon, but despite going on to win 80 caps for Portugal, has not made it to the Premier League.
Links with Arsenal were the most persistent, with the Gunners reportedly offering £28million for the midfielder in 2015.
After years of speculation, Carvalho’s move to Real Betis in 2018 was something of an anti-climax.
Lars Bender
Bender was an £18million summer target for Arsenal back in 2015, according to reports.
Wenger’s interest in the German midfielder went back to 2013 and The Sun reported that Arsenal were keen on strengthening their squad by signing him.
Alas, Bender stayed at Bayer Leverkusen until his retirement in 2021.
Grzegorz Krychowiak
Following Emery from Sevilla to PSG, Krychowiak had developed a reputation as one of the most underrated midfielders in Europe and was attracting the interest of plenty of clubs.
Arsene Wenger was reportedly a big fan of the Poland international and Arsenal were weighing up bids for Krychowiak in both 2015 and 2017.
But he endured a nightmare first season in PSG, however, with one of very few starts coming in the 6-1 defeat against Barcelona, and was shipped out on loans to West Brom and Lokomotiv Moscow in the following years.
Krychowiak eventually signed for Lokomotiv permanently in 2019 before moving to fellow Russian side Krasnodar in 2021.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he made use of FIFA regulations and suspended his contract to move away and currently finds himself in Cyprus with Anorthosis Famagusta at the age of 35.
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Thomas Lemar
In 2017, Sky Sports reported that Arsenal tabled an outrageous £92million bid to sign Lemar from Monaco.
He ended up staying put at the Ligue 1 club for another year and later joined Atletico Madrid for a considerably lower fee.
The French midfielder is by no means a complete bust. He won the World Cup with France in 2018 and was excellent in Atletico’s La Liga title victory of 2020-21, but he hasn’t done enough to suggest that he was ever worth £92million.
Lemar has comprehensively been overshadowed by the likes of Fabinho, Kylian Mbappe and Bernardo Silva when it comes to Monaco’s title-winning side of 2016-17.
Christoph Kramer
The forgotten man of Germany’s 2014 World Cup-winning side, Kramer was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal in 2014.
Then playing for Borussia Monchengladbach, Kramer’s suitors also included Liverpool and Manchester United but chose to stay in Germany.
While all three clubs moved on, Kramer remains at Gladbach in 2025 but has hardly suggested enough to leave Arsenal fans with any regrets over their club’s failure to sign the midfielder.
Emiliano Buendia
After being named Championship Player of the Season for his exploits with Norwich City, Buendia reportedly became a top target for Arteta in the summer of 2021.
But Arsenal had a £30million bid rejected by the Canaries and they were also unable to convince the midfielder to push for a move to the Emirates.
The Argentina international decided to join Aston Villa instead, linking up with compatriot and former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, but has endured an injury-hit time at Villa Park.
Having missed out on Buendia, the Gunners instead signed Martin Odegaard on a permanent deal. Safe to say that’s worked out alright for them.