Monaco’s Djibril Sidibe has admitted that he could have moved to Arsenal this summer but decided against it because he would get less playing time than thinks he’ll get with Monaco.

The 24-year-old right-back was signed by Monaco at the start of July when he penned a five-year-deal but it seems as if Arsenal had been in touch as they hunt for a Mathieu Debuchy replacement. He cost £12.75m after moving to Lille in 2012 for £2.13m.

Speaking to France Football (hard copy edition), Sidibe clearly realised that he would be behind Hector Bellerin in the pecking order and would, therefore, be relying on cup games and the Spaniard getting injured )or playing like poo, something he’s shown no signs of doing).

“I thought about it a lot in the summer,” Sidibe said.

“Arsenal could be a good option for my career, but at the level of minutes in the game I would have definitely had less time than in Monaco.”

This statement by the player reveals a few things about Arsenal in the market this summer.

First, how hard it is to attract top talent when you cannot guarantee them a starting spot. Next, how little the press the know. There was coverage of Arsenal’s rumoured interest in the player at the start of July, but it was nothing compared to the nonsense we’ve had to endure around other players that Arsenal weren’t even interested in.

Finally, it also tells us that Arsenal are trying to sign players for other positions, and not just the two everyone is obsessed with – centre back and striker.

Or maybe that should be ‘instead of’.

Who knows.