Arsenal are eyeing a deal for Norwich City’s Emi Buendia, but the Championship side are likely to ignore any and all offers this month.

The Independent report that Arsenal are eyeing a possible player-plus-cash deal for Emi Buendia. They’ve held early discussions with his agent, but any agreement is a long way off at this stage. Norwich want at least £40m, according to the report.

Arsenal are considering offering the likes of Joe Willock or Reiss Nelson to push a deal through, the Independent claim.

Sky Sports have an even more negative assessment of the situation. They claim Buendia hasn’t asked to leave, Arsenal haven’t made an approach, and Norwich plan to ignore even lucrative offers for him.

They quote Daniel Farke as saying: “He is our player and will continue to be our player. He is on a long-term contract so we keep him.”

This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Buendia has seven goals and seven assists in 19 games, leading Norwich City up to top spot in the Championship table. As things stand, he has them on course for promotion.

Yet if Bournemouth and Brentford win their games in hand, Norwich will only be four points above fourth. It would be so easy for them to drop down into the play-off places with just a couple of few bad results.

So why would they sell their best player? How could they use the money they’d get to secure promotion any better than they could just use Buendia? It’s hard to think of a logical answer to those questions, which is why the deal seems so unlikely right now.