Alessio Da Cruz’s agent says Arsenal have been following his client ‘for some time’, and the Gunners are still after the forward despite his January transfer.

In the winter window, Da Cruz moved from one Serie B club to another, joining Parma from Novara.

His agent says Arsenal were just one of many clubs following the player before the transfer.

“Da Cruz had many admirers, among them Arsenal, who followed him for some time,” the representative told Tutto B (via SportWitness). “The negotiation with the English club did not go through for many reasons, but they didn’t stop following him because of this.”

Despite only playing in the Italian second division, Da Cruz seems to be generating a lot of interest.

The Netherlands u18 international just turned 21 in January, and has five goals and five assists from 20 appearances this season. That includes an assist on his debut for his new club last week.

Normally, rumours surrounding a young player from the Italian second division wouldn’t hold much weight. On the other hand, Arsenal did sign Konstantinos Mavropanos from the Greek Super League in January.

The appointment of Sven Mislintat seems like it’s made the Gunners broaden their search for players a little. Wenger even admitted in January that Mislintat might know somebody that the club would usually pass by.

In this case, however, it seems like Arsenal have been following Da Cruz since before the German joined the club.