Dusan Vlahovic completed a big-money move to Juventus on Friday despite strong interest from Arsenal in the striker.
The Gunners had made the Serbia international their priority target this month, but despite negotiations with Fiorentina and the forward himself, he was not convinced by the north London club.
Juventus confirmed Vlahovic had completed a move on Friday and the reason for the Serbian choosing a switch to Turin rather than London was confirmed by his agent.
Vlahovic's agent, Davide Torchia, said (as per the Daily Star): "Juventus are always Juventus."
The former Fiorentina man said this on the move: "Juventus represents pride, tradition and family. Juventus are always there until the last minute, they never give up.
"The team always comes first. I am at the disposal of the coach and my team-mates, who I will try to help in the best way possible. We always want more, and we want to improve in the future. Today is my birthday, which is really wonderful, a special day for me.
"This is one of the happiest birthdays I’ve experienced so far. I want to make Juventus proud. We will always fight for all goals, as they say, fino alle fine!"
What next for Arsenal?
Mikel Arteta will undoubtedly be frustrated after Arsenal put plenty of effort into securing a deal for Vlahovic, only to be snubbed by the talented striker.
However, there's no time for the north London club to reflect on what could have been, with the transfer deadline approaching at a fast rate.
Alexander Isak and Jonathan David are two strikers that are of interest to the Gunners, but they could be difficult to bring in before Monday's 11pm deadline.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is also said to be a target for Arsenal, but it is unlikely Everton would allow him to move to a Premier League rival halfway through the season.
The Aubameyang situation
Of course, Arsenal have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang available to them, but Arteta recently froze the striker out after a discipline issue saw him stripped of the club's captaincy.
Former Gunners midfielder Paul Merson thinks his old club should not panic, with the Gabon international waiting in the wings at the Emirates Stadium.
He told Sky Sports: "It's such a hard time to get players in. They wanted to bring in Dusan Vlahovic, but there was no interest from the player at all. He is now off to Juventus.
"If I was Arsenal I would not panic now. You cannot just go and chase someone for all this time and then switch targets and go for someone else. There are now just days left of the window so, for me, Arsenal need to wait now.
"Honestly, I'm not sure about bringing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in from the cold. I'm not sure how far down the line this is now. It's not just down to the club either, you have got to see how the player is feeling.
"To be honest, I thought Mikel Arteta chopped his nose off to spite his face in regard to Aubameyang in the first place. It's not like Arteta has got the biggest squad in the world.
"With Aubameyang, Arsenal need to have a sit-down meeting with him. You have seen it before where players have just said, that's it. He got hung out to dry and he got binned.
"It could have all been sorted out behind the scenes. There's a lot to this story and probably it could have been handled better on both sides, but now, it needs to get sorted out. For me, Aubameyang, on his day, is still one of Arsenal's best players."
