You get some transfer rumours that just will not go away and in fact, they pick up momentum and you get to a stage where you start to think, “this could happen” and that is looking to be the case with Arsenal’s interest in Barcelona defender Samuel Umtiti.
It is becoming more and more credible with the latest reports claiming that Laurent Koscielny is set to leave Arsenal because of the likelihood that Umtiti will soon be a Gunner.
The Barcelona defender has a release clause of £450 Million, however, Arsenal can sign him for £44 Million, that is just 10% of his outrageous release clause.
Release clauses are a bit of a joke, they are put into contracts in order to prevent clubs coming along and trying to snatch a player without paying a premium, though if you are a club like Paris Saint Germain you have the means to pay almost any ridiculous release clause fee.
But it does show how highly Barca thought of Umtiti for them to put in such a colossus figure.
Umtiti, 25, has fallen down the pecking order at the Camp Nou and if Barcelona manages to land Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt, it is hard to see him having any future with the Catalans.
The same now applies to 33-year-old Koscielny who is fast coming to the end of his top-flight career and if it is not Umtiti, it will be another defender that Arsenal will buy this summer to replace him.