Sevilla’s new coach, Vincenzo Montella, believes that Steven N’Zonzi is an important player for the La Liga side, which could be a blow for Arsenal in their alleged pursuit of the defensive midfielder.

N’Zonzi has been heavily linked with a move away from Sevilla recently after falling out with former coach, Eduardo Berizzo. However, now that Montella has taken Berizzo’s place, it could be a different story.

“N’zonzi is a very good player,” said Montella. “The first thing I will do is talk to him so I can find out his ideas.

“For me, he is an important player of Sevilla. He’s important on a technical level.”

The 29-year-old fell out with Berizzo after being subbed off at half time during Sevilla’s 3-3 draw against Liverpool in the Champions League back on November 21. At the time, the Spanish side were 3-0 down to Jurgen Klopp’s men and N’Zonzi allegedly took the brunt of the blame from their head coach.

The Frenchman hasn’t played since.

Presumably, the midfielder isn’t quite as keen to leave now that his nemesis has been sacked after a run of poor results.

Meanwhile, Sevilla’s president, José Castro, insists that, contrary to reports, Everton haven’t made any offers for N’Zonzi, who spent six years playing in England with Blackburn Rovers (2009 – 2012) and then Stoke (2012 – 2015).

“Sevilla have not received any offers from Everton for N’zonzi,” he said. “He is a player in the squad that did not play by technical decision and now he can play by technical decision.”

He added, “The club is clear that what we want is to have good players to achieve the sporting objective.

“N’zonzi’s circumstances occurred with the former coach. Now we have another coach, N’zonzi has been back in training from the first minute.”

Castro’s claims match up with Sam Allardyce’s. The former West Ham boss insists that the Toffees don’t need any more midfielders.

Before being dropped, N’Zonzi made 16 appearances for Sevilla. He has a £35m release clause.