M'Bia confirms Arsenal bid

Gunners failed with move to land African ace

By Giscard Gourizro   Last updated: 8th September 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

M'Bia confirms Arsenal bid

M'Bia: Still wants move

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Stephane M'Bia has confirmed to skysports.com that Arsenal failed with a late bid to sign him in the transfer window.

The Cameroon international was the subject of Everton interest over the summer, but his club Rennes refused to let him leave.

22-year-old M'Bia does not want to upset Rennes, having played his whole career with the Brittany outfit, but his desire to move to the Premier League remains.

M'Bia will now concentrate on his Ligue 1 duties with Rennes until January, when the transfer window re-opens.

"Listen, I am a Rennes player, the [transfer] market will open in January and I will concentrate and do a good job for Rennes then, hopefully, come January we will see what happens," he told skysports.com.

Gunners approach

Everton were favourites to land the player over the summer, while the likes of Newcastle, Tottenham, Celtic and Rangers were all linked.

But Arsenal almost grabbed him with a late move, which again was rejected by Rennes.

"Everyone knows there are clubs that are after me, that is not new, Arsenal made contact in the last hours of the past market but the club did not want to let me go," he added.

"Rennes is looking to improve my pay, I have already decided to stay here against my wish, however everyone knows I want to move to the Premier League to improve myself and play in the biggest league in the world."