In terms of Arsenal transfer news, January has been disappointing for Mikel Arteta.
Obviously the Gunners are absolutely flying on the pitch, boasting an eight-point cushion at the Premier League summit.
But away from the pitch, Arteta is struggling to strengthen his squad.
First, Cody Gakpo, someone linked to Arsenal toward the end of the summer window, joined Liverpool out of the blue.
And then Chelsea hijacked their attempt to sign Mykhailo Mudryk this past weekend.
Raphinha and Ferran Torres have been named as potential alternatives to Mudryk, but Fabrizio Romano has even more bad news on this front.
According to the Italian journalist, the Barcelona duo are perfectly content with life at Camp Nou right now and therefore signing one of them looks remote for Arsenal.
He told Caught Offside today: “Despite links with Arsenal, both Raphinha and Ferran Torres want to continue at Barcelona, so this is the situation as of now.”
This is becoming a real problem for Arsenal because despite clearly wanting another wide player, none of their remaining targets appear to be on the market.
This is a dilemma for Arteta and Edu.
Do they finish January having not signed anybody and hope their eight-point cushion of Manchester City lasts until May?
Politically, that could be a mistake because should Arsenal not win the league, failing to sign anybody this month could be looked upon as a motivating factor in that.
There’s a sense of misfortune about their transfer woes but, then again, had they offered enough for Mudryk to begin with then maybe, just maybe, he’d be a Gooner right now and this Romano development would mean nothing.
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