Arsenal's former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat says Borussia Dortmund also signed PSG star Kylian Mbappe on a free transfer.
The 22-year-old started his career at Monaco, making his first-team debut at the age of just 16, and even at that young age there were a number of elite clubs around Europe who were eyeing him up.
And speaking in an interview with Kicker, Mislintat, who spent a year at Arsenal, recalled just how close Dortmund got to signing the player.
"It was a real shame that we couldn't get Kylian in," he said. "Kylian Mbappe was [available] free of charge at a certain point and there were many suitors. But we had no chance of winning that [race].
"If you had been able to steal Mbappe from Monaco for free at the time, it would of course have been a mega deal."
Mbappe ended up joining PSG in 2017 in what is believed to be the second most expensive transfer of all time, with the deal potentially reaching an eye-watering £168m.
