Palmeiras’ Danilo and PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo have both agreed new contracts after transfer links to Arsenal this month.

In early January, a report from R7 esportes in Brazil claimed Arsenal had made a £22m bid for Palmeiras midfielder Danilo.

In the following weeks, further reports have suggested Danilo is now set to renew his Palmeiras contract to 2026, with a salary increase and a release clause increase.

Later in the month, Foot Mercato claimed Arsenal were ready to move for PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo as a potential Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replacement.

Within days, PSV had confirmed a new long-term contract for Gakpo with his current club.

On a seemingly similar note, Arsenal have been linked with Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz in recent days, with Birmingham Live and the Evening Standard among those suggesting they could submit a bid before Monday’s transfer deadline.

Yet John Percy now reports that Villa are poised to open talks with Luiz over a new contract. He adds that Villa have rejected a bid (not from Arsenal) this month, and Luiz is highly rated by Steven Gerrard and his current club.

It doesn’t take a genius to see a pattern emerging here. At this point, it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest at least one or two of these players’ agents have been throwing Arsenal’s name out to the media to push contract negotiations along.

We can’t say for sure whether that applies to Luiz, given we don’t have any formal confirmation whether he’s signing a new deal or not. It just wouldn’t be a surprise if he did.