Denis Suarez has reportedly rejected a contract extension with Barcelona and dropped out of their squad to face Sevilla, despite claims that Arsenal negotiations have broken down.

The Denis Suarez transfer saga has taken a number of twists and turns in the last week. On Monday, we got confirmation from David Ornstein that the rumours were true, and Arsenal really were interested in a loan move.

Less than two days later, it seems talks have broken down. Wednesday’s Mundo Deportivo reports that Arsenal offered €2m as a loan fee, as requested, but wouldn’t commit to a compulsory purchase clause in the summer.

In order to accommodate an option-to-buy instead, Barcelona wanted to extend Suarez’s contract by a year. That way, if Arsenal didn’t take up the option, the La Liga club would protect the value of their investment. However, the 25-year-old rejected the extension, negotiations ended, and it seemed Suarez was set to stay until the end of the season.

Now the story has taken another twist, as Barcelona have confirmed Suarez has been pulled out of their Copa Del Rey squad to face Sevilla. The midfielder had appeared in every round of the competition so far, but he was replaced by new signing Kevin-Prince Boateng in Wednesday’s squad.

[BREAKING NEWS] Following confirmation of the transfer of Boateng, there are 18 players in the squad list to face Sevilla FC. Denis Suárez is the player who misses out #CopaBarça

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 23, 2019

You’d think this would only drive the player to push for a move even harder. If Barcelona aren’t even going to use Suarez as a substitute in cup games anymore, there’s hardly any point keeping him. I wouldn’t write off another late change of heart from one side or another in the final week of the transfer window.