The press in Portugal are reporting that Arsenal are prepaping a bid of €30m for Algerian Islam Slimani but all is not as it seems with the reports.

The website, O Jogo, were the first to break the news of the Joel Campbell-to-Sporting deal so many are taking the headline from their paywalled article and running with it. Dig in a little deeper, however, and you see that their information is based on a report from HITC, a concerning ‘source’ for a major paper in the country where the player actually plays.

Leaving aside that the information has come from a less than reliable source, as we’ve insisted over this entire transfer window, any story that features the words ‘preparing’ and ‘Arsenal are’ can most likely be discounted in their entirety because Arsenal aren’t letting anyone know what they are up to. Arsenal could well be interested, but I guarantee they aren’t telling the press about it.

Coming on the back of the far more reliable reports of a €20m bid for Lucas Perez to activate his release clause, I think we can ditch this rumour for now.