An Italian newspaper once claimed that Alessio da Cruz was being scouted by Arsenal’s head of international recruitment.
Da Cruz appears to have flown to England on Tuesday amid reports that he will join Sheffield Wednesday on loan from Parma.
But Wednesday, it seems, are not the first English club to show an interest in the 23-year-old Dutchman.
According to La Stampa, Arsenal sent Francis Cagigao, their then head of recruitment, to watch Da Cruz in action for his previous club Novara.
And Cagigao, who is credited with discovering the big-name stars such as Cesc Fabregas and Hector Bellerin for Arsenal, was also pictured by Di Marzio in dialogue with a man reported to be Da Cruz’s agent.
But despite being linked with the Gunners and various others, including Inter Milan, it was to Parma that the former Ajax youth team player moved in January 2018, for a fee La Stampa claimed to be €3 million [around £2.5m now], plus bonuses.
Parma later loaned Da Cruz to Spezia Calcio and Ascoli, for whom he scored or made 11 goals in 15 Serie B games in the first half of this season.
Da Cruz, who also accrued three red cards in that time, can operate anywhere across the front line, but has spent the bulk of the campaign at centre-forward.
Sheffield Wednesday’s need for offensive reinforcements was exacerbated by the loss of their leading scorer Steven Fletcher to injury this month.