According to reports from The Guardian, Arsenal are set to miss out on top transfer target Jamie Vardy.

After watching him fire Leicester City to last season's Premier League title with 24 goals in 36 appearances, the Gunners activated the former non-leaguer's £20million release clause earlier this month.

But the England international opted to delay the decision on his future until after Euro 2016, where he's already got on the scoresheet for the Three Lions during a 2-1 comeback against Wales.

However, it appears the north London club won't get their man, after manager Arsene Wenger surprisingly told a Chinese TV channel; "Jamie Vardy is, at the moment, at Leicester and from what I know, he will stay at Leicester."

For Arsenal fans, a striker deal falling through might feel a bit like groundhog day.

Indeed, the Gunners have come close to signing a top-class goal scorer umpteen times before, until eventually having to settle for Olivier Giroud leading the line for another season.

In fact, we at Football FanCast count no less than SIX Arsenal striker deals collapsing in the last four years including Vardy's, so here's a look at the other five...

2012 - M'Baye Niang

M'Baye Niang is one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe, boasting goals in the Italian, Spanish and French top flights at just 21 years of age - including five in 16 Serie A appearances last season.



The France U21's pace and power would be perfect for the Premier League and Niang revealed two years ago that he almost moved to England back in 2012 with Arsenal.



As quoted by The Sun, he said; "I spoke with Arsene Wenger, I was in his office, we spoke for hours. He wanted me, he asked me if I was ready to come and I said ‘Yes.’



"In the beginning, honestly I didn’t want to go to Italy, because I’d had contacts with AC Milan before that. But I was aiming for Arsenal and we were in discussions with Arsenal. Then when we got to the end of the transfer window, something happened."


Eventually, Niang moved to AC Milan for just £2.5million - a deal that could well come back to cost the Gunners dearly as the youngster continues to develop at an impressive rate.

2013 - Gonzalo Higuain

Back in 2013, Arsenal were on the verge of signing potent poacher Gonzalo Higuain, even agreeing a £130k per-week contract with the Argentina international.



But as more clubs became interested in the 28-year-old, Real Madrid raised their asking price from the £22million Arsene Wenger had offered. Unsurprisingly, the Frenchman refused to budge and Higuain eventually signed for Napoli in a £31million deal.



The striker has gone on to bag 91 goals in 146 appearances for Napoli, reach a World Cup and Copa America final with Argentina and set a new record for most goals scored in a Serie A season - notching up a whopping 36 last term.

2013 - LUIS SUAREZ

A notorious tale epitomising Arsene Wenger's penchant for penny-pinching, the Arsenal boss decided to activate Luis Suarez's release clause in summer 2014 - bidding exactly one pound over the £40million asking price.



But Liverpool simply laughed off the offer, with owner John W Henry even joking on Twitter about Wenger's drug habits, and Luis Suarez didn't seem too concerned the Reds had essentially negated the terms of his contract by not setting up talks with the north London club.



One incredible season later that almost saw the Uruguay international fire Liverpool to the Premier League title with 31 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, Suarez moved to Barcelona in a £65million deal.



So yes, Arsenal did activate Suarez' release clause and yes, Liverpool were technically in the wrong. But if Wenger's bid was greater than the almost offensive margin of a pound, perhaps the Reds would have accepted.


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2015 - Edinson Cavani

After spending the summer chasing around Karim Benzema like he's the cutest girl in the playground - the cutest girl that eventually left Arsene Wenger incredibly broken hearted by mocking rumours of them going out on Twitter - Arsenal turned their attentions to PSG frontman Edinson Cavani.



Indeed, Wenger was pictured in Paris on deadline day summer 2015 amid rumours of a last-minute swoop for the Uruguay international, but eventually baulked at his £50million price-tag.



Perhaps that's understandable considering Cavani is already 28 years of age, but no Arsenal striker has come close to matching his return of 185 goals in 286 appearances throughout the last six seasons, spanning spells with the Parisians and former employers Napoli.


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2016 - Samuel Chukwuenze

Believe it or not, Jamie Vardy isn't the only striker Arsenal have missed out on this summer, also failing to get a deal for African prodigy Samuel Chukwuenze over the line.



He was one of the shining stars as Nigeria lifted the U17 World Cup title in 2015 and Arsene Wenger later confirmed to reporters that he was on the verge of signing the youngster alongside team-mate Kelechi Nwakali.



He said back in January; "They are progressing well. I expect them to be done this month.



The teenage forward even passed a medical at the Emirates and agreed a five-year contract but in typical Wenger style, Arsenal eventually couldn't settle on the structure of payments to his current employers Diamond Academy.



Instead, Chukwuenze is now set to sign for FC Porto - a club with a simply phenomenal record of turning young players into some of European football's biggest stars.


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