Arsenal missed out on a Deadline Day attempt to sign Real Betis forward Pablo Garcia before Racing Santander completed a deal for him, according to claims made by the La Liga club’s sporting director.

From the outside, it had looked as though the Gunners had a fairly quiet end to the transfer window on Tuesday night. The paperwork on Gabriel Martinelli’s exit was completed, Gabriel Jesus departed for Barcelona, and Ethan Nwaneri finalised a loan switch to Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal were also linked with Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, but no offer followed.

It now seems, however, that the club may have been working on more business behind the scenes than was initially apparent.

It was already understood that Arsenal wanted to add more attacking options to the squad in the closing days of the window, and Garcia, the right winger who has now joined Racing Santander, appears to have become a late target.

The 20-year-old Garcia had an emotional finish to the window as his boyhood club Real Betis sold him to Santander for only £4.3m, a transfer that reportedly left the player in tears. Betis also kept a 20 per cent sell-on clause in the agreement.

He had previously been linked with Hull and Olympiacos, according to The Athletic, and Santander sporting director Chema Aragon has now said his club overcame interest from Arsenal to secure the player.

“It seemed like it was done with Arsenal, and then we came in too on loan,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “(On Tuesday) things changed, and what seemed to be a loan turned into a shared ownership deal.”

Garcia, who is from Seville, leaves Betis after representing the club since the age of six.

He broke into the first team last season, making 25 appearances, although he managed only two goals.

In spite of his visible emotion at leaving Betis, reports have said he pushed for the move in an effort to improve his first-team opportunities.

It remains unclear how significant a role he would have had at Arsenal if the transfer had been completed, given that he would have begun the season behind Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke in the pecking order, as well as fellow summer arrival Christos Tzolis.