Premier League trio West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Unai Emery’s Arsenal were all interested in the Olympiakos defender.
Olympiakos defender Pape Abou Cisse has admitted that Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United wanted to sign him over the summer, adding to Le Quotidien that Unai Emery was keen to bring his services to Arsenal.
Back in August, Greek publication Gavros claimed that Wolves were set to make an offer for a highly-rated centre-back, who is valued at around £18 million, while Arsenal were apparently confident of getting a deal over the line too before the transfer window slammed shut, according to 90Min.
Despite such high interest, Cisse stayed in Piraeus to help Olympiakos, who have not won the league title for two years now, fly to the top of the table after just eight games.
And, speaking after an impressive 2-0 win against 2018 champions AEK Athens, the Senegal international has admitted that he was contacted by three Premier League clubs during the off-season.
“Arsenal had not made an offer. The coach was interested and there were discussions. There were other English clubs; West Ham, Wolverhampton. In France, there was Rennes, Monaco,” said Cisse, who dreams of playing in the English top flight at some point.
“But hey, I’m still in contract with Olympiakos. My goal this season is to go very far in the Champions League or Europa League (and) win the Greek championship because it’s been two years since we won a title and Olympiakos is a club used to winning titles.”
Given how poor Arsenal have been defensively this season with David Luiz and Sokratis Papastathopoulos looking like an accident waiting to happen despite their considerable top level experience, maybe the Gunners should have done more to bring one of Emery’s top targets to North London.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
