Arsenal have been linked heavily with a move for Juventus’s defensive midfielder, Mario Lemina, but the Italians have no intention of selling him to anyone.
With Schalke allegedly throwing their name into a hat that we’re told already contains Arsenal, Leicester and RB Leipzig, this rumour always struck us as slightly strange given that Arsene Wenger now has three defensively-minded midfielders after years of refusing to employ any.
What would he do with another one?
Calciomercato reported on Sunday that it doesn’t really matter as ‘Juve has no intention of listening.’
This is not surprising.
Not only is Lemina highly talented, I don’t remember a single transfer rumour which saw us linked with a Juve player, and there have been many, that came to anything.
Arsenal rarely buy players from Italy.
Emiliano Viviano arrived on loan from Palermo in 2103, Mathieu Flamini on a free from AC Milan the same season so that doesn’t count, but you have to go back to 2005 to find a permanent transfer that involved the exchange of cash from Arsenal to an Italian side – Vito Mannone from Atalanta’s youth team.
Why that is, I couldn’t say. Perhaps they’ve never forgiven us for taking Thierry Henry from Juventus and making him in to a world class superstar, who knows?
Anyway, this is one rumour that seems like to keep bubbling but I highly doubt it will ever amount to anything Arsenal-related.