Arsenal miss out on Yannick Carrasco as tight transfer budget continues to haunt them
ARSENAL have missed out on signing Yannick Carrasco with the Belgium star set to move to another club on the Continent from China.
The Gunners had made former Atletico Madrid midfielder Carrasco one of their top transfer targets this summer.
Unai Emery tried to revive his bid for the 25-year-old wideman having just failed to agree a deal to sign him in the January transfer window.
And Carrasco revealed exclusively last month how he was open to the prospect of moving to the Emirates and playing Premier League football next season.
But SunSport now understands Arsenal are out of the running for the Dalian Yifang ace, with the Chinese Super League club wanting £30million for his services.
Emery has been forced to plot a major overhaul of his squad on a tiny budget this summer, and the valuation of Carrasco would blow most of it in one deal.
That has seen the Gunners fail to come up with the money to strike a deal and Carrasco is now expected to join another top European club instead.
BLOW
It is another blow to the London club who are having to be tight with their money after missing out on Champions League football next season.
And it means Emery is set to miss out on two of the midfield players he had pinpointed as summer signings, with Ryan Fraser now set to stay at Bournemouth.
The Scottish international, who created more goals than any other player in the Premier League last season, was also in the Spaniard's sights.
But the Cherries have remained firm in insisting the 25-year-old will not be sold, even though he is about to enter the last 12 months of his current deal with the club.
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The Gunners have lost Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck from their squad since the end of the season, and are desperate to offload Mesut Ozil's £350-a-week wages from their books.
But Emery knows he has to strengthen in defence as well as midfield, and with a transfer budget of just £40m he is having to operate in the bargain basement of the market.
The club are hoping to generate more funds by selling Shkodran Mustafi, while Lucas Torreira could be sacrificed with AC Milan showing an interest in taking him back to Serie A.