by Nia Griffiths

On Thursday we brought you the news that Chelsea midfielder, Charly Musonda, had made it clear he was aware of Arsenal’s apparent interest.

It’s since emerged that we might have put in a bid for the youngster and subsequently had it turned down.

According to football site, Footmercato, we offered £8.5m for the player, who we’ve apparently been keeping tabs on since he was in Anderlecht’s academy.

When initial reports implied the deal would be a loan move, it didn’t make sense for Arsenal at all. Why would we train up a young attacking midfielder just to hand him back to our rivals? We wouldn’t. However, if a more permanent deal was on the cards, the deal seemed more likely.

Despite this, it’s turned out that Chelsea simply aren’t willing to give us one of their talented youngster and will only let us have him on loan – something we’re not interested in. As a result, Musonda appears to be getting shipped off the French club Marseille.