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Arsenal were never close to signing Barcelona star Samuel Umtiti.
Despite the player being linked with a move to The Emirates, the player himself has insisted that no deal was ever on the cards.
The centre-back had been heavily linked with a move away from the Spanish champions during the summer after a difficult season in 2018/19.
With Unai Emery looking to bolster his defence, Umtiti appeared to be a likely man to solve Arsenal’s defensive issues.
However the Frenchman has spoken out for the first time about his summer and insists he was never really close to joining the Gunners.
Umtiti claims he doesn’t know where the Arsenal links came from
“Honestly, I don’t know where this rumour with Arsenal came from,” he said.
“Overnight, I received messages from my friends ‘ah, so you are joining Arsenal?’ I’m not, I’m sorry but I’m staying at Barcelona.
“Contacts with Arsenal? To be honest, I don’t know if they had conversations with my agent, I just told him that I didn’t care what was happening this summer and that it wasn’t even necessary to talk to me about it.
After granting Laurent Koscielny his return to France with Bordeaux, Arsenal signed David Luiz from Chelsea on transfer deadline day for £8m.
Gooners, would you have preferred Umtiti to Luiz? Let us know in the comments…
