Yannick Carrasco has admitted that he’d love to return to Europe, after interest from Arsenal and AC Milan in January, but his club wouldn’t let him go in the winter window.

Arsenal reportedly tried to sign the Belgian winger on loan in January, but the deal ended up falling through. Depending on which media outlet you believe, that was either because they couldn’t agree on a loan fee, they couldn’t agree an option to buy or Dalian Yifang weren’t interested in loaning him at all.

Whatever the problem was between the Chinese club and Arsenal, there was certainly no lack of desire for a move from Carrasco. He told the media this week (via Fichajes): “I would love to go back to Europe, many clubs were interested in me.

“We tried to find a solution in January that would allow me to leave Dalian Yifang, but I understand the position of the club. They wanted me to stay.”

Some reports from earlier this month suggested Unai Emery would still be interested in signing Carrasco in the summer. However, AC Milan would presumably provide some competition once again, and the player’s wages would reportedly be pretty significant.

Additionally, it makes even less sense for the Chinese club to sell in the summer than it did in January. It would disrupt their team in the middle of their season, so if they weren’t keen before, it’s not certain they will be in a couple of months time. We’ll see.