Arsenal sold one goalkeeper and bought another in the summer transfer window.
Emiliano Martinez was sold to Aston Villa for a fee of £17m, leaving a hole in Mikel Arteta’s squad.
The Gunners subsequently made a move for Icelandic goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson, bringing him in from French club Dijon.
Per Transfermarkt, the Gunners paid a total of £1.8m to bring him in from Ligue 1.
However, it has now emerged that Mikel Arteta may have wanted another goalkeeper before settling on the 25-year-old.
Sport Witness carries an interview from AS in which Aitor Fernandez confirms that the Gunners made a move for him in the last transfer window.
Fernandez currently plays for Levante, for whom he has made a total of 65 appearances.
The 29-year-old, valued at £9m by Transfermarkt, was asked about Spanish reports linking him with the Gunners and Athletic Bilbao, he said: “Yes, it’s true that there have been contacts. Quite a few clubs have asked, and those are two of them.
“But here I have been very happy, and I hope to continue being so.”
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Arsenal clearly cast their net far and wide as they looked to replace Martinez.
Runarsson is simply back-up to Bernd Leno, though he did make his debut against Dundalk in the Europa League.
One has to think that Fernandez is too experienced and too distinguished to settle for that role.
He is the first-choice at Levante, playing regularly in an elite European league, and one has to think he would have been far more expensive than the Iceland international.
Arsenal made their choice, and the Levante man may have dodged a bullet.