Arda Turan almost joined Arsenal in the summer, according to Turkey manager Mircea Lucescu.

The 30-year-old Barcelona midfielder was available during the summer and heavily linked with a move to Arsenal.

It didn’t seem like Arsenal had any serious interest in him, but Turkey manager Mircea Lucescu has claimed otherwise.

“I spoke to Valverde, Arsenal made Arda an offer,” Lucescu said, as reported by Turkish Football.

“Arda was on the verge of joining Arsenal this summer but it did not go through.”

Turan is in a difficult period of his career, as he’s currently out-of-favour at Barcelona.

He’s yet to make a single appearance under new manager Ernesto Valverde, and he wasn’t much of a favourite under previous manager Luis Enrique, either.

Since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2015, he’s made 55 appearances in all competitions.

30 of those came last season, along with a respectable 13 goals.

However, that wasn’t enough to convince the management at Barcelona that he deserves more chances.

Turan has been linked with Arsenal several times over the years, but nothing serious has ever materialised.

Now 30, a move to another big club seems unlikely.

His best period as a player came with Atletico Madrid.

Under Diego Simeone, he won the Spanish League title, the Europa League and reached the Champions League final.

He joined Barcelona in July 2015, but didn’t complete the move until January 2016 due to the club’s transfer ban at the time.