Arsenal fans have vented their frustration online after the club missed out on a deadline day deal to sign Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz.
Mikel Arteta was hopeful of bringing in a late addition in his midfield department after duo Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny suffered injuries in recent weeks.
The Gunners singled out Villa man Luiz as their priority but they were in a race against the clock to get the deal over the line before the 11pm deadline.
Luiz is in the final year of his contract at Villa Park and manager Steven Gerrard gave an uncertain answer when asked about the Brazilian’s future on Wednesday night.
Gerrard said: “I’m not in control of that. There are more than two people in control of [whether Luiz stays] but I'm certainly not one of them.
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“That will be Douglas, that will be his agent's decision as to what happens around that. I'd like to keep him because he's a fantastic player. I've made that abundantly clear.”
Despite the player expressing the desire to join the North London club, the two clubs failed to agree a fee.
Arsenal made three bids, starting with £20 million, then £23 million, before moving up to £25 million. All three bids were rejected as they fell short of Villa’s valuation of £40 million.
After the news broke that Arsenal had failed to land their target, the Emirates faithful showed their discontent on social media, with the majority of the frustration aimed at technical director, Edu Gaspar.
EduOut is trending on twitter, with angry Gunners fans not happy with the disappointing end to the club’s otherwise fantastic transfer window.
One fan said: “#EduOut I kept my mouth shut until the end of this window. But he has screwed it up once again. Blame will go all on him when we capitulate!”
Another tweeted: “Jesus and Zinchenko joined because of Arteta. Edu didn’t play much of a part in convincing them. As far as I know he’s done the minimal once again #EduOut”
A third fan added: He keeps messing things up . Douglas Luiz was suppose to be an easy one #EduOut”
Many Arsenal fans expressed their worries that if anymore injuries occur, their good start to the season will be undone.
Topics: Arsenal, Aston Villa
Marcus Chan