Reports of Arsenal interest in Jeremie Frimpong have been played down, with talks at an early stage and Bayer Leverkusen setting a high asking price.

Arsenal were linked with a move for Bayer Leverkusen full-back Jeremie Frimpong this week, but those rumours have since been quelled.

Stefan Bienkowski reports that discussions between Arsenal and Leverkusen are still at a very early stage, with nothing concrete yet.

To make matters worse, the Bundesliga club wouldn’t let Frimpong go for less than €50m (£42.7m), and they’d likely expect even more than that.

Bild had reported Arsenal’s interest in Frimpong, with suggestions that Granit Xhaka’s move to Germany could help relations between the two clubs. But it’s clearly not going to get the Gunners a discount.

Frimpong primarily played on the right-hand side for Leverkusen last season, though he’s also played at left-back in the past.

It’s hard to imagine Arsenal spending a significant fee on another right-sided defender, having already agreed a deal to bring in Jurrien Timber.

Reports suggest Timber is being added to Mikel Arteta’s squad with the intention of using him at right-back, with Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu already available.

That’s assuming Cedric Soares leaves, with reports claiming Arsenal are looking to move him on but nothing guaranteed yet.

At left-back, perhaps a deal for Frimpong would make more sense. There’s still a lot of uncertainty about Kieran Tierney’s future at Arsenal, so Oleksandr Zinchenko could end up as Arsenal’s only senior option in the position.

But even then, Arsenal would need to bring in a significant fee for Tierney to be able to afford another €50m outlay on a replacement.

For the time being, it doesn’t look like this Frimpong deal is going anywhere.