Arsenal opted against signing Malick Fofana from Lyon and the French winger has now spoken out on his move to Sunderland
Malick Fofana on his Sunderland debut
Malick Fofana made his debut for Sunderland on Saturday after Arsenal turned down signing him (Image: (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images))
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Malick Fofana has admitted he wants to accomplish "something special" after joining Sunderland over Crystal Palace and Arsenal. The two London club's were heavily linked to the Lyon winger with latter ultimately turning down the chance to sign him.
The Gunners have been on the hunt for a new attacking addition for much of the summer window. Julian Alvarez was their top target but Fofana became an option with it looking as though a deal with Atletico Madrid was not going to happen.
Fofana was offered to the Premier League champions and a bid being launched was under consideration. However, The Athletic have claimed that Arteta had concerns over about Fofana being able to adapt to the Premier League with their preference being a loan over permanent transfer.
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The Stadium of Light subsequently became his most likely destination but that was before Palace made a late attempt to hijack the deal. Their attempts to do so were in vein, though, with Sunderland signing him for £30m on deadline day and handing him his debut off the bench on Saturday against Brentford.
Speaking to the club's website, Fofana said: "I'm very happy and excited to be here and I can't wait to get started. I spoke with a lot of people before coming here and they gave me the feeling they really wanted me.
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"It's been a busy 48 hours, but I can't wait to get going. I've already played in the Europa League and I hope I can bring that experience here."
He added: "The Premier League is a new experience for me, so I hope it's a great season. I know with this squad we can do something special."
Having recently offloaded Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona and Gabriel Martinelli to Al-Hilal, Arsenal had given serious thought to securing Fofana's signature.
However, the arrival and subsequent impact of Christos Tzolis, brought in as a replacement for Leandro Trossard, ultimately led the club to forego any further additions following their unsuccessful pursuit of Alvarez.
Julian Alvarez
Arsenal wanted to sign Julian Alvarez in the summer transfer window
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Arteta bolstered his squad with the signings of Tzolis, Bruno Guimaraes, Ezri Konsa, Illan Meslier and Piero Hincapie over the summer, consistently emphasising the importance of equilibrium. "That's what we are trying to get as a club but the balance has to be right," Arteta remarked.
"There are areas that we have to improve to hit those numbers. And if it's not with sales, because maybe we don't want.
"We have to sell what we want to sell as well, not just to sell. And then when we want to sell as well, we have to be very careful because some of the assets, after maybe they grow and we still want them."