Sergi Samper, currently on loan at Granada from Barcelona, has revealed he rejected an approach from Arsenal as he wished to stay in Spain.
The 21-year-old is currently halfway through a season-long loan spell with the struggling Andalucian club but has said his long-term ambition of breaking into the first team at Camp Nou is why he turned down Arsene Wenger’s approaches.
"Well, I just left it clear that I wanted to stay, that I wanted to succeed there [at Barcelona], that I was a big cule [Barcelona fan] and what made me happiest was to be able to succeed in the future at Barca,” he explained in an interview with El Grana’s website, although there is no indication of when such an interview took place.
Samper has made a total of eleven first-team appearances for the Catalans – although most of these arrived in the Copa Del Rey and Champions League group stage games – and he has started ten league games for Granada this campaign.
