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Arsenal will make a new attempt to sign Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande next summer.
They wanted to sign the 19 year old Ivory Coast international during the last transfer window, but their bid for him of £30 million was turned down by the Portuguese club.
That was despite it giving Sporting the chance to make a quick profit on a player they had only signed in January from Danish side Midtjylland for a fee of £6.3 million.
The Gunners, though, remain admirers of the player, and have promised Sporting they will make a new bid to sign him in a year’s time.
The player himself has a release clause of £67 million in his current contract in Lisbon.
He made his full international debut for his country in their narrow win over Lesotho last weekend.
Diomande was one of the players that helped Sporting knock Arsenal out of the Europa League last season, beaten on penalties at the Emirates.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.