This player wanted to end up in Arsenal but ended up in Barca

Barcelona new boy Frenkie de Jong has revealed he always had it in his mind to join Arsenal before making the move to the Spanish giants.

The Dutch starlet says he planned to follow Marc Overmars’ lead by leaving Ajax for the Gunners and eventually earning a switch to the Camp Nou. He instead made the move directly from Ajax to Barca this summer for an initial fee of around £65m.

The 22-year-old midfielder told Voetbal International: “In my mind, I have had the following list for a long time: Ajax-Arsenal-Barcelona, call it the Marc Overmars route.

“But then again, if you can go directly to Barcelona, then you are right where you want to be. Faster than you ever dared to dream.”