Barcelona have reportedly ‘said no’ to signing Gabriel Magalhaes, but Arsenal had no plan to sell in the first place.

Mundo Deportivo report that Barcelona are hunting for a new centre-back on the market, and they reportedly received a proposal to sign Gabriel Magalhaes from Arsenal.

According to the same outlet, Barcelona said ‘no’ for both sporting and financial reasons.

That’s certainly an interesting claim, considering the reports on Gabriel from England just over a week ago.

Football.London wrote that Barcelona were in fact considering a summer move for Gabriel, adding that the Brazilian defender was top of their summer shortlist. Football.London added that Arsenal were refusing to entertain any offers for the player.

Rather amusingly, we now have two completely different versions of events from the two sides of the story.

In Spain, they believe Gabriel was offered to Barcelona, who said no. In England, they believe Barcelona were planning a bid for Gabriel, with Arsenal shutting them down.

It’s certainly convenient for this new story to come out from the Barcelona end over a week after the initial claims. Almost as if they felt they need to save face.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter either way. The end result is that Gabriel remains with Arsenal, where he seems to be perfectly happy anyway.