Talks with Valencia over bringing centre-back, Shkodran Mustafi, to Arsenal appear to be coughing and spluttering over the finish line, if reports are to be believed.

Early on Friday, we reported that Emanuele Giulianelli was claiming that a €30m deal for the German international was supposed to be done that day (obviously it wasn’t) and that a medical will happen on Monday.

Given Giulianelli’s history of being generally wrong when it comes to transfer gossip, we took this news pretty lightly.

At the same time, other outlets were reporting that we’d submitted a €30m bid, while others claimed that the reason the deal is taking so long is no fault of Arsenal’s but the agents at Valencia’s end.

https://twitter.com/AFCPressWatch/status/766422828195479552

Interestingly, however, Spanish football expert, Guillem Balague, told Sky Sports that the La Liga team are actually asking for €40m, not €30m, which Arsenal won’t pay and – for the record – he doesn’t think the player is worth it.

Meanwhile, Napoli reportedly rejected a £58m offer from Chelsea for centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, which many think will mean the Blues turn their full attention to Mustafi.

What do we know?

Some outlets are claiming that Arsenal have offered €30m for Mustafi, while others say that Valencia want more and Chelsea are also interested.

Liverpool are apparently not interested, despite earlier reports, according to Liverpool Echo writer, James Pearce (thanks @SarriesKid10 for that find, by the way).

Confused? I certainly am.