The club president says Arsenal have failed in their bid for the £5m Turkish winger

Arsenal are chasing Turkish midfielder Oguz Aydin ahead of his €6m (£5m) move to transfer to Fenerbahce earlier this month, said the president of his former club.

Aydin finished 2023/24 with 20 goals and assists in the Super Lig after the end of the campaign – netting ten times in Alanyaspor's last 12 games alone. But that was not enough to make Turkey's final squad for Euro 2024 after being provisionally listed.

It still brought him some summer transfer attention, however. Cihan Aktas, the president of Bucaspor where Dutch-born Aydin started in the youth ranks as a 16-year-old, has suggested that Arsenal are among those tracking the player as they look at a possible deal.

Galatasary had a tough 2023/24 season as they broke through the 100-point barrier to claim the Super Lig title ahead of Fenerbahce, who finished with 99. But that doesn't seem to be enough to convince Aydin to join them once Fenerbahce president Ali Koc becomes president. , from one of the richest and most powerful business families in Turkey, they were firmly involved in the transfer saga.

“Oguz is a player who steps on the stage at unexpected times and wins games,” Aktas told Turkish media. Hurriyet. “Two Italian teams and Arsenal were after him. Galatasaray also wanted him, but when Ali Koc came in, he became a Fenerbahce player.”

The reason Aktas has insider knowledge of the transfer is because Bucaspor, which exploded during Aydin's tenure there but claimed to be a renegade club, benefited from his transfer due to a sell-on clause when he joined Alanyaspor.

The deal gave Bucaspor, currently third in Turkey, a whopping 1.8 million euros.

For Arsenal, Aydin may have been seen as a cheap signing as the Gunners have been heavily linked with Spain's Euro 2024 star Nico Williams, who has a €58m (£49m) release clause. The Athletic Club winner may be considered an upgrade on Gabriel Martinelli, albeit a poor one, but the reliable centre-forward is arguably still the most important part of the puzzle.

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