Arsenal in €20 Million Bid for Dinamo Zagred Duo Sime Vrsaljko and Mateo Kovacic

Arsene Wenger has supposedly made an unsuccessful bid to sign two Croatian teenagers.

Dinamo Zagreb vice president Zdravko Mamic claims that the club have rejected a €20 million offer from Arsenal for highly rated youngsters Mateo Kovacic and Sime Vrsaljko.

In an interview with Croatian newspaper he is reported to have made the following comments,

"Ten days ago we had a special visit in Zagreb. Here were people from Arsenal and they were ready to pay €20 million in order to secure the services of Vrsaljko and Kovacic. But they are to stay in Dinamo, Arsenal just wanted to buy them for the future. But my answer was sharp, I said 'no' in one second. We have space and no problems at our bank account, so I can take a risk. I know I'm playing with luck but so far I am winning. I believe it will be the same in the future."

Vrsaljko, 18, is a full back who is supposedly wanted by a number of European clubs. Mamic claimed earlier this year,

"Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton, Bayer Leverkusen, Sampdoria and many others are after Vrsaljko. Some clubs have already spoken to us, many others are calling us for meetings and to watch Vrsaljko in action live, and yes, some clubs are already here."

Kovacic, 16 recently made his debut at senior level and is regarded as the brightest young prospect in Croatian football. He became the youngest player ever to score in the Croatian HNL league after grabbing Dinamo's fourth goal in their 6–0 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac last weekend.

Croatian newspapers reported in October that Arsenal's chief scout Steve Rowley had travelled to the country to watch Kovacic. The teenager has been attracting interest since an early age and supposedly had the option of joining VfB Stuttgart, Ajax, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Internazionale at the age of 13 but chose instead to move to Zagreb.

The Dinamo Zagreb vice president appears desperate to bring the player to the attention of the world's media, possibly with a view to starting a bidding war. His protestations that the club do not want to sell either of their young stars sound a little insincere and he is probably trying to increase their value with a series of selectively released sound bites.

Given Arsenal's track record of discovering talented young players an endorsement from Wenger is likely to increase the interest of other clubs. However Mamic risks alienating Arsenal who will not be impressed that details of a private negotiation have been cynically leaked to the media.

It seems that both Kovacic and Vrsaljko are destined for the Dinamo Zagreb door and will probably both move on sooner rather than later. It is extremely bad etiquette to announce that a club has made a bid for one of your players though and Arsenal are unlikely to rekindle their interest in the wake of Mamic's comments