Arsenal missed chance to sign 'outrageous' youth talent now worth £128m

A former Arsenal scout has admitted that the club worked hard to bring Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz to the club as a teenager, having spotted his potential, but couldn't convince the German to make the move to London.

Yousuf Sajjad previously worked at the Gunners to spot young talent, having also served at Brentford and Chelsea, and spoke through his career to the Rising Ballers podcast this week. When talking about Arsenal, he admitted that Wirtz was very much the one who got away for the club.

Sajjad said: "There was a period when he was at Cologne and coming to the end of his contract. You could see the level of player he was but he had a few injuries that season.

"It was just not something [a move to Arsenal] that he was keen on pursuing at that moment. Education is quite important in Germany and he had to finish school - he ended up at Leverkusen and it worked really well for him. He probably has the choice of any club in the world that wants to sign him, but achieving great things at Leverkusen as well."

The scout added that he had been blown away by the player's 'technical quality' and 'outrageous goals' at that time as he impressed at under-19 level despite being just 16 years old himself.

Wirtz has been one of the standout players under Xabi Alonso, registering 11 goals and 11 assists in the Bundesliga this term as the club stormed to the title. In such fine form, Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has placed a €150 million (£128m) price tag on the player in a bid to warn off any potential suitors.

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Comparing his time at Arsenal to that at Chelsea, Sajjad talked through the different scouting operating models at the clubs. He said: "Things that stood out to me on a financial level, there was a point that Arsenal could compete but chose not to. It was more down to being principled and making the right choice for the club but at Chelsea, it was wanting the right players and getting them by any means. There is not really a right way of looking at it, both have their reasons and are different.

"Arsenal would be in the market for a similar level of player but would draw the line at a point. It was, if we can't compete, then we have to be creative. The players we brought in are still good enough, we just looked at if from a different angle and got players that weren't on the radar for Chelsea."