Matteo Guendouzi didn’t hand in a transfer request at Arsenal, and there are no potential moves close enough for him to force them through.

Over the last day or so, you may have seen rumours on Twitter that Matteo Guendouzi handed in a transfer request.

A few cited L’Equipe as their source of the rumour, before changing their story to “L’Equipe via Tribal Football” or similar when pressed on whether they’d read the update themselves. I’m not going to give them the attention they wanted by linking them here.

We couldn’t find the L’Equipe report, nor could any of the publication’s regular readers, and Charles Watts wrote on Twitter that they never reported it in the first place.

Both Watts and James Olley report that Guendouzi has not handed in a transfer request. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll stay, and Arsenal are willing to listen to offers for him. But at this stage, there’s nothing on the table close enough for the player to force it.

It’s not as if Arsenal are holding the midfielder against his will. Ideally, they want a good bid so they can part ways and invest in a replacement. Whether through a lack of interest or a tactical decision to wait until late in the window, those bids aren’t coming.

In the meantime, Guendouzi is training with the first team again. There’s still a chance he makes the League Cup squad to face Leicester City on Wednesday.