Barcelona’s new manager, Ernesto Valverde, has reportedly made Arda Turan available for sale this summer.

The playmaker, 30, has failed to make a significant impact during his time with the La Liga giants since a surprising switch from rivals Atletico Madrid back in 2015 and has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal.

It has been rumoured that the Gunners have already approached the Turkey international’s agent, Ahmet Bulut, and have been in talks over a possible deal for the past month.

Turan has received interest from China but his intentions are clear: he wants to remain in Europe. Galatasaray would be open to a possible move for their former player, though Barcelona’s reported asking price of £35m is far too high a fee for them to pay.

Inter Milan sporting director Piero Ausilion reportedly held talks with Turan’s agent in Italy last month, though the experienced midfielder’s previous comments about a possible Premier League move suggest he’d be open to an Arsenal switch if a formal approach was made for his services.

If this story is true, £35m is far too much to spend for Turan.

A player with plenty of experience and European pedigree, yes. However, he’s not the type of acquisition that the Gunners need to be signing and considering Arsenal’s depth of creative midfielders, this move wouldn’t make much sense unless Wenger was already resigned to losing a number of key players this summer.

He struggled at Barca mainly due to a lack of regular first-team minutes, but he’s simply not good enough to flourish there given the various stars in their side and instead, should have remained at Atletico or gone somewhere to be the team’s chief creator.

Why should Arsenal be interested in someone simply because they play for Barcelona?