Manchester United manager David Moyes has revealed that he was offered the chance to sign Mesut Ozil earlier this summer, but decided that he had enough quality in that position to turn the opportunity down.
Ozil completed a £42.4m move to Arsenal on transfer deadline day, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger nearly trebling the club's record transfer fee to sign the German playmaker.
Moyes believes that he was right to prioritise targeting signings in other areas of the team, insisting that United have enough strength in depth in attacking areas without adding Ozil.
He told The Mirror: "We weren't close to buying him but something was mooted a little bit before that.
"We didn't need that position at the time. I didn't even say it was an interest, it was put to us and it was just something at the time we didn't need.
"We we had Shinji Kagawa and Wayne Rooney and people of a similar ilk so it wasn't quite what we required at that time. We were looking at different positions."
Ozil will face Moyes for the first time since that snub this weekend, when Arsenal travel to Old Trafford looking to extend their advantage at the top of the Premier League table.
Liam Power
