In a transfer saga that lasted less than an hour, reports broke on Monday morning that Arsenal had received an offer from Al-Ittihad to sign Leandro Trossard, quickly followed by reports that they’d turned it down.
David Ornstein reported that Al-Ittihad submitted an informal verbal proposal on Sunday, and Arsenal quickly rejected it.
But even if they’d accepted it, the move would have been unlikely to progress.
James Benge of CBS Sports reports that while Arsenal made it clear Trossard wasn’t for sale at any price, sources suggest the player himself also had no desire to leave the Premier League for Saudi Arabia.
According to Ornstein, the offer was for an initial loan move, with Arsenal receiving a €5m loan fee. Al-Ittihad would then have an obligation to buy next summer in the region of €20-25m.
So even at the upper end of that range, the Gunners would still only get €30m (£25.3m) in total.
Arsenal were under no pressure to sell, with Trossard still on a long contract in north London.
Sky Sports News reported at the time of Trossard’s January 2023 transfer from Brighton that the forward was signing a four-and-a-half-year deal with an option for a further year on top of that.
That would put him under contract until 2027, with an option to extend to 2028.
Trossard does have competition at Arsenal following the arrival of Raheem Sterling, with Gabriel Martinelli also battling for a starting spot on the left-wing.
But the forward’s 31 goal contributions in 71 Arsenal appearances (37 starts) were evidently viewed as too valuable to lose. Not that there was ever much risk of losing them to Al-Ittihad this summer.