Arsenal has been dealt a major blow in their bid to strengthen the defence this month.
The Gunners are looking to fix their leaky defence with a new signing before the transfer window shuts but they have been rebuffed in their attempt to get their primary defensive target.
Sky Sports Germany as cited by Star Sports claims that RB Leipzig has rejected Arsenal’s bid for Dayot Upamecano and the Germans are adamant that he is not for sale.
Arsenal has constantly been linked with a move for the 21-year-old and reportedly had a £40 million bid rejected by the Bundesliga outfit last summer.
The defence has continued to be Arsenal’s biggest problem this season. They managed to defend well and kept a clean sheet against Manchester United in their last league game, but Mikel Arteta knows he has to strengthen his squad in the market.
He recently said: “We’ll try to look in the transfer market for options to strengthen the team.
“That is our obligation and we are going to be working on that but the reality is that we’re not going to be able to do much.”
It was always going to be a long shot signing Upamecano this winter. RB Leipzig was never going to sanction a sale of one of their best players in the middle of the season, a season that still has them in the Champions League.
If this deal is ever going to happen I suspect it will be in the summer.