Sebastian Perez
Perez won't join Arsenal this summer.

Arsenal have opted against signing Colombian midfielder Sebastian Perez after a trial spell with the north Londoners.

The 20 year old played for The Gunners in their 3-1 pre-season victory over Manchester City but the Premier League giants have opted against signing the youngster after failing in a bid for a work permit.

Applications are reliant on players having featured in 70% of their country's international matches over the past two years however Perez, who featured for Colombia at the Under-20 World Cup this summer, has yet to make a full international appearance.

The refusal of a work permit made Arsenal's pursuit of the Atletico Nacional midfielder therefore untenable.

"We already knew that and were waiting for the response, but that wasn't possible and the player will keep working with us," director Victor Marulanda said.

"The possibility of joining Arsenal has been ruled out."

While the close shave is unlikely to draw much attention given the low-profile nature of the target, the incident represents another near miss for Arsenal in the summer transfer window to forget.

The club have missed out on a succession of high-profile targets including Gonzalo Higuain and Clement Grenier while Arsene Wenger has added just one player in the form of French youngster Yaya Sanogo.

The final nail in the coffin for Arsenal looks like being their failed pursuit of Luis Suarez, who appears set to stay at Liverpool after being unable to manufacture a way out of Anfield.

Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith says the move has looked desperate from the outset.

"He's of a character I think that Arsenal have needed over the last few years, that they haven't had," Smith said at Sky Sports' 2013-14 season launch.

"That nastiness, that aggressiveness he has, that will to win. There aren't too many within the Arsenal squad that are like that. It marks a sea change from Arsene Wenger I think that he is after people like that.

"I think he's probably realised that in order to end that drought, he needs to head in a slightly different direction. So it's encouraging from that point of view, not so encouraging to hear Liverpool's statement on the subject... you know it's pretty emphatic.

"I don't think Arsenal are then going to slap £60m on the table, that's not the way they do things. So they have probably gone nearly as far as they are prepared to go. If you're Arsene Wenger, you're looking elsewhere, desperately looking really because they've made no secret of the fact that they've got plenty of money to spend both in transfer fees and wages. The fans were getting excited towards the end of last season and, all of a sudden we're in mid-August and nothing's happened.

"There were boos at the end of the Emirates tournament when they lost to Galatasaray, I think that's not because they lost, but because the fans are just so anxious to see new faces coming in. But Suarez, as an Arsenal fan, would be one that you'd love to see at The Emirates."