According to agent, Sandor Varga, Arsene Wenger inquired about Manchester City midfielder, Oleksandr Zinchenko, ’10 times’.

The 17-year-old was bought by City from Russian club, Ufa, in the summer for a reported £15m before they immediately loaned him out to PSV Eindhoven.

The Ukraine international was apparently high on Wenger’s list before he headed to our rivals, however, as, according to Varga, he asked about him several times, claiming that he would be in Arsenal’s first team.

“Wenger called and said: ‘I have need for that player,” Varga told Championat.

“‘He’s going to play in the first team. I know he is only seventeen, but I’m going to write a letter to his family that I will take care of him when he is with us and he’ll play in the first team.’

“Arsene had seen a youth game of Shakhtar and took 20 minutes to assess the potential of Oleksandr.

“Wenger asked me ten times about Zinchenko and I later informed him and felt even a bit sad because I couldn’t help him.”

While I’m sure Wenger did inquire about the youngster, 10 times sounds like a bit of a reach and I don’t see the boss offering a 17-year-old first team football right off the bat like that. It’s therefore pretty probable that the agent could be exaggerating to make his client seem like hotter property.

Or, of course, he could be telling the complete truth and Wenger just really, really wanted this Ukraine international for Arsenal’s first team…

Since going out on loan to PSV, Zinchenko has featured six times and assisted two goals in Eredivisie.