Andrea Berta enjoyed an impressive summer during his first transfer window as Sporting Director at Arsenal.

The Italian oversaw several headline additions such as the £64m signing of Viktor Gyokeres and a £68m deal for Eberechi Eze to significantly strengthen the squad for Mikel Arteta.

However, decision makers at Arsenal actually gave serious consideration to hiring Jason Ayto before Andrea Berta – as Tony Bloom has now revealed.

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Tony Bloom admits Arsenal were “very, very close” to hiring Jason Ayto

Speaking on the Official Brighton & Hove Albion FC YouTube channel, the Seagulls chairman revealed just how close Arsenal came to appointing the 40-year-old as their Sporting Director.

Bloom – who has since hired Ayto himself – said: “Jason’s been in football for a long time. He’s been at Arsenal for a very long time. He had the interim Sporting Director role for nine months and did a really, really good job.

“He got very, very close to getting the full-time Sporting Director role at Arsenal. He has just got the skillset, we believe, in many, many different areas.”

“He’s seen (while) working for Edu at Arsenal how things work there....