David Ornstein believes the Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal rumours are just media speculation at this point, admitting he doesn’t have concrete information on the reports.

Rumours of a Bruno Guimaraes move from Athletico-PR to Arsenal started to take hold this week. After reports from Brazil of Arsenal interest at the start of the month, Athletico’s club president stoked the fires by claiming the Gunners are planning a summer bid.

Most recently, Goal in Brazil reported Arsenal were actually planning to bring that summer move forward to January. They’re considering an offer between €25m and €30m, according to the claims.

At the time, we suggested it’s possible the rumours only exist to push Benfica to increase their own offer for Guimaraes. Benfica offered €20m, but Athletico either want more money or a cut of future sales.

Leaking ‘Arsenal interest’ could help in negotiations, so the speculation might have no concrete basis. David Ornstein told The Athletic’s Transfer Daily podcast he heard something along those lines.

“[The situation of] Bruno Guimaraes I don’t know very much about,” Ornstein admitted. “I’ve been told by a couple of people that this is just media speculation at the moment.

“Now, because I don’t have specific information on it, I’m not shooting down those reports. I’m merely saying that is what I’ve been told be a couple of people I trust. Just press reports at this moment in time.”

As Ornstein says, this doesn’t mean all the reports are false. It just looks more and more likely agents could be using Arsenal’s name to get a deal done.