Omar Abdulrahman says he received an offer from Arsenal over the January transfer window, and it’s his dream to play in Europe.

Unfortunately for him, negotiations broke down.

Speaking to Turkish outlet Sporx, Abdulrahman revealed interest from the Gunners and French club Nice. He’s currently trying to move to Turkey instead, after neither team could reach an agreement with Al-Ain FC.

“I received proposals from Nice and Arsenal,” he explained. “But the negotiations failed. It’s my dream to play in Europe. I currently have transfer offers from Turkey.”

Abdulrahman currently plays in the UAE Gulf League. He’s an attacking midfielder and has one goal and two assists from eight appearances this season. A club like Arsenal signing a 26-year-old directly from the UAE seems a bit far-fetched, to me.

On the other hand, Abdulrahman talked about Arsenal and Manchester City trying to sign him as long ago as 2013. The only stumbling block was that the UAE’s FIFA ranking was so low, he couldn’t get a work permit.

The player’s contract expires at the end of February. At that point, he could join any club for free, so perhaps the Gunners were just looking for a cut-price deal.

In the end, signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan and extending Mesut Özil’s contract fulfilled the attacking midfield quota anyway.

Hopefully the midfielder gets his dream move to Europe eventually, but right now I can’t see the Gunners signing him.