Boca Juniors president Daniel Angelici has denied that Arsenal have made an approach for Cristian Pavon, and stated his desire to keep the forward at the club this season.

Reports had suggested Arsenal were about to activate Pavon’s release clause ahead of a move this month. Angelici, though, has claimed otherwise, and has labelled the speculation as just rumours.

“For the moment, we have not received any proposal, formally or informally,” he said, as reported by Goal.com. “For now, they are all rumours, as always, just comments in the corridors.

“But I know very well what I said to Cristian when we renewed his contract. I am not going to cut off his career, but we made him a nice contract so that he would be comfortable.

“We put a release clause in the contract just in case clubs like this appear. It’s then the player who has the last word. He looks fine to me, very focused on 2018 with Boca Juniors. We always help him with his future, but I trust Pavon will be with us for 2018.”

It sounds as if Arsenal will have to pay his full release clause, believed to be £27.4m, if they want to sign the winger.  The reports emerged just as there were developments about Alexis Sanchez’s future.

With Manchester City trying to sign the forward, Arsenal seemed to be moving for a replacement. It appears that those initial claims had jumped the gun a bit.

Pavon is keen on regular first-team football so that he can get into Jorge Sampaoli’s Argentina squad for the World Cup in the summer. The 22-year-old has two caps for his country, which were both awarded by the Chilean manager.

He’s played 12 games for Boca this season, scoring three goals and setting-up six, having mostly played as a right winger, but is capable of featuring on the left as well.