Arsenal have been linked with a move for Cody Gakpo since the start of the year, but with the PSV Eindhoven winger chalking up assists like Erling Haaland scores goals, his price just keeps rising.

Arsenal’s opponents on Sunday, Leeds United, thought they could be signing Cody Gakpo in January.

The two clubs tried to come to an agreement in the summer but ran out of time. Those talks reportedly continued with an eye to a January deal, even though the player was said to be less than thrilled about the move.

As the season got underway, however, Gakpo’s form has seen reports that he is definitely not interested in a move to Leeds now, with his sights set on a bigger club.

For instance, Real Madrid are said to be interested, according to David Ornstein’s column in The Athletic.

Erling Haaland arrived in the Premier League this summer and promptly set about smashing all the ‘needs time to settle’ narratives that have ever been spun.

15 goals and three assists in nine Premier League games alone, 20 goals and three assists in just 13 games overall has left fans of all clubs watching on in amazement.

In Eredivisie, meanwhile, Gakpo has nine goals in nine games, with six assists. Overall this season, when you factor in all competitions he has played in, he’s scored 13, with 10 assists, in just 17 games.

That’s a goal or assist just over every hour.

Football.London are still linking Arsenal with an interest in Gakpo, but it’s not clear if that’s based on information they have or because of the stories that have swirled around since the start of the year.

The player is currently valued at around £31.5m after he signed a new contract with PSV in January, when links with Arsenal had died down.

And, despite their alleged interest in the player, Arsenal apparently turned down the chance to sign him in the summer.

One reason for that could be a concern over his ability to step up to the level of the Premier League.

While Gakpo has scored or assisted every 1.57 games domestically over the course of his career, and every 1.76 games in the Europa League or Europa League Conference, when he gets to Champions League qualifying, that number rises to once every 4.3.

That is a far smaller sample, of course, and is just speculation on my part.

Like most things in the realms of transfer gossip, really.