Lucas Perez’s agent, Rodrigo Fernandez Lovelle, has denied even speaking with Sporting Lisbon, let alone agreeing a deal for his client to join the Portuguese club.

It was reported on Saturday that the forward had agreed a deal to join Sporting before the transfer window closed after failing to do enough to convince Emery that he should be part of the club’s plans.

There are a few problems with that assertion. First up, Arsene Wenger signed Lucas and then refused to give him a chance. Emery wanted to sign the Spaniard when he was manager of PSG so contrary to many press reports, Lucas had less to do to impress Emery than had Wenger still been in charge.

Lovelle was approached by Calciomercato.com and asked about the claims from A Bola that a €6m (£5.4m) bid had been accepted for the 29-year-old. “I have never spoken with anyone about Sporting,” he said.

There’s absolutely no way of knowing whether Lucas will stay or go. Emery has admitted that the club probably need to shift a few players and he could be one of them. When asked if any new players would be arriving before the window shuts, Emery said, “My focus is on the first match and preparing, and not for the window and the possibility to sign another player. Maybe we need some players to leave because we have lots in the squad, but at the moment, my one focus is on our work.”

Could Lucas be one of those to make way? Absolutely.

Will he certainly leave? Nobody knows.