Ndiaye only signed for Stoke from Galatasaray for £14m back in January, making 13 Premier League appearances before the club went down to the Championship. Turkish-Football write that he can now activate a relegation clause in his contract allowing him to leave the club, despite joining so recently.

The Turkish outlet claim Arsenal, West Ham and Besiktas are all after the player.

Besiktas president Fikret Orman travelled to London last night for talks with a number of agents, including Ndiaye’s. It’s very possible Ndiaye’s representatives took the opportunity in London to speak with Arsenal at the same time, but we have no confirmation of that just yet.

There are plenty of sources to corroborate the information about the midfielder’s release clause though. Galatasaray correspondent Mehmet Ozcan confirmed that the player had such a clause in April.

As for why Arsenal would want to sign the player, he made a good start to life in England with Stoke. He scored twice and assisted once in his first 13 games, but his main strength was in winning the ball in midfield. Perhaps the Gunners could do with a player like that after Francis Coquelin’s recent departure. We’ll see.

Click ‘Next’ to see the other midfielders reportedly on Arsenal’s shortlist this summer