Arsenal took control of the second leg in Paris, but failed to capitalise on the big opportunities. It also didn’t help that Gianluigi Donnarumma had one of his impossible nights on the line for PSG. After the Champions League exit, Arsenal supporters took to social media to vent their frustration. One of the topics was what a mistake it was for the club to let go of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia when they had the opportunity to sign the player.
Arsenal’s scouts followed Kvaratskheila in 2021, when he played for the Georgian youth national team, but failed to see which giant he would develop into on the wing.
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According to scout Tomasz Pasieczny, the Gunners followed him with great interest in Rubin Kazan, but ultimately chose not to sign him. A few months later, the Gunners signed Brazilian winger Marquinhos from São Paulo.
“I was in the old stadium in Kazan for a match against Dynamo Moscow, Khvicha came in from the bench, made two completely unsuccessful dribbles, and the fans reacted very negatively,” Pasieczny told The Sun.
-At that point, he couldn’t handle it. Every move was bad, from start to finish. He got lost, the ball bounced off him, you could see that he had lost confidence. Everyone knew that he would be mega good, but they wondered how good. Whether he wanted to be top or a little lower. At that stage, I had to write what it is like, draw conclusions, write where the problems are,” the scout recalls.
Sporting director Edu and Arsenal went for Marquinhos. The Brazilian still has a contract that expires in 2027, but has played a poor six games in Arsenal’s first team, the rest of the time on loan.
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The reactions from Arsenal supporters when it became known that Arsenal dropped Kvicha and went for Marquinhos, were not surprisingly strong.
Here is the Arsenal supporter who felt most cheated:
“The person who did this should be imprisoned for treason!”
