Arsenal offered chance to make Alejandro Grimaldo transfer signing from Benfica… but Mikel Arteta rejected full-back

ARSENAL had the chance to land Benfica full-back Alejandro Grimaldo in the summer - but turned down the chance.

The highly-rated defender has long been linked to some of Europe's biggest clubs and rumours intensified in the summer of a transfer to the Emirates.

But Arsenal reportedly rejected the chance to sign him and favoured Oleksandr Zinchenko instead.

That's according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano via , as he reports the Gunners were offered Grimaldo before turning him down.

But "many clubs" continue to follow the star and a potential move is still on the table.

While there are no negotiations ongoing yet, Juventus have sent their scouts to watch him play in recent months.

Like Arsenal, Manchester City were also heavily linked to the star and rumours only continued once they sold Zinchenko.

But the club opted for Anderlecht's Sergio Gomez instead.

Grimaldo continues to make waves at Benfica and has played in all but one of their league and Champions League games.

The Portuguese side currently top the Primeira Liga by six points and have won four of their last five.

FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS - BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS

Even more impressively, they topped a Champions League group containing Juventus and PSG last night.

A 6-1 win away at Maccabi Haifa gave them top spot by virtue of away goals scored and could potentially land them a kinder draw on Monday.

Grimaldo was among the scorers as Benfica ran riot in Israel.

Meanwhile, after an encouraging start to the season, Zinchenko has missed a handful of games for Arsenal and is trying to fight his way back to fitness before the midseason break.