Agent Sandor Varga has revealed how desperate Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Zinchenko left FC Ufa for Manchester City last summer and is currently on-loan at PSV Eindhoven.

Varga recalled to Championat : "Wenger called and said: 'I have need for that player. He's going to play in the first team. I know he is only seventeen, but I'm going to write a letter to his family that I will take care of him when he is with us and he'll play in the first team'.

"Arsène had seen a youth game of Shakhtar and took 20 minutes to assess the potential of Oleksandr."

Varga handed the letter to Zinchenko's parents, but for unknown reasons they did not come to an agreement with Arsenal.

"Wenger asked me ten times about Zinchenko and I later informed him and felt even a bit sad because I couldn't help him. He teased me and said: 'I thought you were an authority in Eastern Europe... '. "