Arsenal rejected the first offer from AS Roma for Henrikh Mkhitaryan last week, after opening talks with the Serie A club over another transfer.

The AFC Bell claim Arsenal rejected the offer from AS Roma to loan Henrikh Mkhitaryan for another season. The Serie A club reportedly want the Gunners to extend the 31-year-old’s contract to 2022 so they can loan him again.

Arsenal do apparently have a renewal option in Mkhitaryan’s contract for an additional year. All they’d have to do is activate it. However, it reportedly involves a provision to increase his salary from £150,000-a-week to £250,000-a-week.

That’s what’s holding Arsenal back. Obviously, they wouldn’t have to worry about Mkhitaryan’s wages if Roma paid them while he was on loan. But after that, they’d have a 32-year-old player on £250,000-a-week with no guarantee of a buyer.

Various reports last week confirmed Arsenal are in talks with Roma, and ready to sell.

They’re looking for a straight cash sale though, rather than another loan or a player swap. The problem is that they want at least £10m, more than Mkhitaryan’s loan club will pay. There’s no clear compromise on the horizon as things stand.