Arsenal were heavily linked with a move for Miguel Almiron before he signed for Newcastle United but his agent has confirmed that the club only wanted to sign the player on loan.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 16: Miguel Almiron of Newcastle United goes down claiming for a free-kick during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Newcastle United at Emirates Stadium on February 16, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 16: Miguel Almiron of Newcastle United goes down claiming for a free-kick during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Newcastle United at Emirates Stadium on February 16, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Miguel Almiron is enjoying quite the season ever since he was trolled by Jack Grealish.

The Newcastle United 28-year-old has scored seven goals in 13 games this season which is also quite the improvement on last season when he scored just one.

Almiron signed for Newcastle United from Atlanta in the MLS for £24m in 2019.

Speaking to a radio station in Paraguay, Almiron’s agent Daniel Campos has again been retelling the story of how Arsenal wanted him on loan.

“Miguel Almiron is a footballer who went from less to more, now he is a more complete footballer,” Campos told Paraguayan radio station ABC Cardinal (via MEN ).

“There was interest shown by Manchester United in Miguel but they never made an offer. Arsenal and Southampton offered loan deals for him but we did not want it to be a loan.”

Arsenal were first linked with a move for the Paraguay international back in 2016 when his agent admitted the club had made an approach for the player that ‘didn’t go any further’.

At that time, it was expected a fee of around €10m would be enough to seal a deal. Those comments came two days after it was reported Arsenal had agreed a €9.4m deal for him.

Nothing came of that and Almiron headed to the States to sign for Atlanta United and it all went quiet on the Arsenal front until October 2018.

A quote emerged at the start of that month that was reportedly from Atlanta’s president, Darren Eales, that claimed a deal was done with Arsenal that would see the player move in January for £11.5m but it didn’t take long for these quotes to be dismissed as fake news.

Newcastle then entered the equation but right up until December 2018, Arsenal were still said to hold an interest even though the MLS side wanted a big fee and Arsenal had no money.

Arsenal’s interest in Almiron was reportedly lengthy and genuine but it seems as if money could be the reason they bowed out of any deal.

Atlanta were adamant they wanted a decent fee for the player, and while they were hoping to get in excess of £30m for him, they settled for £21.6m which still represents a profit of £17.25m.