Samuel Umtiti claims that he never came anywhere close to signing with Arsenal this summer.
The Barcelona defender was heavily linked with an Emirates switch by plenty of news sources across Europe.
Unai Emery was thought to be seriously interested in the Frenchman who had fallen down the pecking order at Camp Nou. Umtiti was struggling to find playing time and Arsenal thought they could complete a swoop.
The Gunners ended up signing David Luiz to add strength to the centre-half position and also William Saliba, who is set to return from loan next summer.
“Honestly, I don’t know where this rumour with Arsenal came from,” Umtitit told the press. “Overnight, I received messages from my friends ‘ah, so you are joining Arsenal?’ I’m not, I’m sorry but I’m staying at Barcelona.
“Contacts with Arsenal? To be honest, I don’t know if they had conversations with my agent, I just told him that I didn’t care what was happening this summer and that it wasn’t even necessary to talk to me about it.
“It was useless, I was going to have the same answer. My dream as a child is to play for Barcelona. Last season was the most difficult of my career, especially in terms of injuries.”
Umtiti was being connected to Paris Saint-Germain as well, as part of a swap deal for Neymar. Eventually, Barcelona removed themselves from the negotiations altogether but Umtitit said he was never even in the conversation.
“Exchange coin for Neymar? It’s crazy,” he continued. “It made me laugh, I don’t even have an answer to where it comes from.”
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