In a nice turn of events Arsenal are being linked with a move for Barcelona’s Jeremy Mathieu rather than them being linked with one of our players.

With Arsenal desperate for a centreback, it seems as if parts of the media are missing no chance to link us with any that they can think of, and Mathieu has found his time has come.

Of course, I don’t know if we are interested but as we seem to be moving closer to signing Shkodran Mustafi, I would say any interest in Mathieu is merely cursory and ‘just in case’.

In Mathieu’s defence, he would certainly fit in at Arsenal. He’s French, but, perhaps more important than that, he missed a load of games last season with a meniscus tear in his knee.

Under contract until 2018 he also has an additional year option in his current deal, although there is no word if Barcelona plan to exercise it.

Having already let Thomas Vermaelen go this summer, you do wonder if they would be willing to let a second central defender leave, but as I already mentioned, I don’t think this transfer rumour is going to develop into much.