I remember us being linked with him heavily when he was in Serie B. Would probably cost too much for Wenger to take the hit though, same thing with Krychowiak guy. Not sure if Wenger's pride would allow him to buy a player he could have had for cheap/free.
Actually for all the smack talk about our scouting, we always do seem to show interest in lot of the top talent before letting them join some elite team the year after. Douglas Costa was another one, Di Marzio was talking up our serious interest in him a year or two ago.