Arsenal have reportedly been in touch with Valencia regarding signing German centre back, Shkodran Mustafi.

With the Gunners looking to recruit another defender after the news that Per Mertesacker will be sidelined for an unknown quantity of Arsenal months, it has taken only a few hours for the first rumour to pop up.

Spanish site, Plaza Deportiva, claim that Arsenal have been in touch regarding the 24-year-old in the last few days.

The player is under contract until 2019 and has a buyout clause in his contract of €50m.

Of course, there is absolutely no way that Arsene Wenger will sanction spending that sort of cash for a defender he’s only being forced to buy because of an injury – even though we need a player for that position for the long term. That being said, Arsenal were supposed to be looking for a central defender before Per got injured. I doubt it was one for €50m, however….

He is, apparently, available for €25m…

Digging into this rumour further, it seems as if it might have started with Italian ‘journalist’, Emanuele Guilianelli, and if that is the case we can maybe just go right ahead and bin it now.

Other gems that have come from Guilianelli include:

Plus Benzema medical on Monday – report.

He has got one or two right, but if you throw enough mud…

That being said, if it hasn’t come from him, who knows how this will play out.

We’ve only just got this one, so more work to be done to verify its source etc. Be sure to check back, or subscribe by email to ensure you never miss a post [emails never sold or shared]