Arsenal signed Marquinhos instead of ‘world class’ winger who has now ruined Mikel Arteta Champions League dreams

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Arsenal have made some transfer blunders in recent years.

While the recruitment under Mikel Arteta has been impressive on the whole, the Gunners have made a handful of mistakes which may have cost the North London club in recent years.

Arsenal opted to sign Raheem Sterling last summer instead of securing a younger wide forward who could contribute significantly more, while the additions of Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori were also questionable in their own right.

However, back in 2022, the Emirates hierarchy made perhaps their biggest transfer error in Arteta’s tenure so far.

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Arsenal passed on signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in favour of Marquinhos

In the summer of 2022, Arsenal took a transfer punt and signed Brazilian youngster Marquinhos from Sao Paulo for £3 million.

The winger would go on to make six appearances for the Gunners’ first team, before enduring a series of unsuccessful loan spells in the last two seasons.

A fairly insignificant deal that didn’t really cost Arsenal anything, although it’s now emerged that the opportunity cost of the signing was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

According to Jordan Davies of the Sun, Arsenal scouted Kvaratskhelia back in 2022 when he was playing for Georgian club Dinamo Batumi, and opted not to sign him due to those making the decision being divided on his potential.

Two weeks later, the North Londoners brought Marquinhos to N5, while the Georgian left his home nation for Napoli, where he became a star.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ruined Mikel Arteta’s Champions League dreams

In his first season at Napoli, Kvaratskhelia led the Italian side to the Serie A title, scoring 14 goals and registering 14 assists in all competitions.

Arsenal were linked with ‘world-class’ Kvaratskhelia in the summer of 2023, but again chose to not seriously pursue him.

This came back to haunt Arteta.

After another season-and-a-half at Napoli, the 24-year-old left the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium to join Paris Saint-Germain.

Producing an exceptional display over two legs, Kvaratskhelia caused Jurrien Timber all sorts of issues and contributed to PSG knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage.