Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has moved to deny the claims by current defender Mathieu Dubuchy, who stated that that an offer from Manchester United had been turned down.
The French right-back joined the club from Newcastle back in July 2014 following an impressive 18 months in the Premier League, and was expected to hold down a first-team role. That wasn’t to be however, as missed most of his first year in North London out with injury, and his replacement Hector Bellerin excelled in his absence.
The Spanish defender is now considered to be one of the best full-backs in the country, and possibly even the world, and will no doubt be keeping his role as the club’s first-choice for the foreseeable future.
Debuchy has since spent a short time out on loan with Bordeaux as he looked for regular action, and Arsene Wenger has now insisted that they are listening to offers for his signature.
The Frenchman also moved to reveal that the 31 year-old’s previous comments about offers from Manchester United, as well as speculation in L’Equipe which stated Fiorentina and Espanyol has made offers, were all untrue.
Wenger said: “They [United] have never made an offer for him. It’s completely untrue. It’s sometimes surprising to hear things like that.”
He was also unequivocal when asked if Debuchy was for sale when the transfer window opens next week.
“Yes, of course (we are listening to offers) but we speak,” he added.
“We have communication with all the players. It’s a little bit of a frustrated article from a player who is injured, you know when you are injured you cannot play.
“When he had the opportunities to play when Bellerin was injured, he was injured. So I cannot do anything about that.
“I gave him last year the opportunity to go to Bordeaux on loan, but we had nobody coming in for him over the summer period and there are some things that are not true in this article.
“We never blocked him to go to Fiorentina, nor Espanyol. They had no interest in him at all because we checked that, so you have to take this (L’Equipe) article with a little distance.”
Once again we are hearing that sides are interested in signing the defender, but there appears to be no official offers at present for him.
Has Debuchy forced Wenger to be honest about the situation? Have his lies annoyed the manager?
Pat J