Yann M'Vila to stay put at Rennes?

Based on various reports today, it appears that despite a lot of talk from a lot of different parties, Rennes midfielder and sometime French international Yann M'Vila will be staying at his current club this season (or at least until January). Arsenal have been linked to M'Vila for what seems like a decade, and at one point earlier in the year it appeared likely that he would become an Arsenal player, but evidently that was never really the case.

Based on other information surrounding the deal, it doesn't sound like this was really a money issue - that is, that arsenal tried to negotiate but were out-priced or decided to be cheap - it really sounds like Arsene Wenger just didn't really want to pursue this player, for some reason. But, you know, it's Deadline Day, so I wouldn't be all that surprised if somehow he ended up at Arsenal anyway. Weirder things have definitely happened than that.

The main information comes from Jamie Sanderson in the Metro, where he says that various offers were made, but that all negotiations with Rennes over the player have either fallen apart or been cut off. Rennes last week said that they had offers from Tottenham Hotspur, Zenit St. Petersburg, and a mystery team that was alleged by many to be Arsenal, but was not (more on that in a moment). Zenit agreed a deal with the team, but after M'Vila said his life was threatened by racist Zenit fans, he nixed the deal. Spurs offered £12million last week and were rejected; Rennes invited them to negotiate but Tottenham ignored it, and informed Rennes yesterday that they were no longer interested. The third club was evidently Everton, who have money now (?), but they have lost interest.

Arsenal made contact with Rennes over M'Vila at the end of last season, but no bid was made and no formal negotiations have taken place. The clubs have not been in contact since, evidently. According to Matt Spiro, Rennes are resigned to keeping the player.

Rennes chairman De Saint Sernin says Spurs gave up on M'Vila at 19:30 last night & insists he's not going to #MCFC or any other English club

— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) August 31, 2012

Rennes chairman says he's 95 percent sure M'Vila is staying put - and adds he will only go if a Russian or Ukrainian club make a late bid

— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) August 31, 2012

I have to say that I'm very confused by this. There's been a ton of smoke around a M'Vila-to-Arsenal deal for about a year and a half now, and for there evidently to be no fire is a bit baffling. It's unclear really what the cause is - if I had to guess, based on the fact that no real negotiations have been made and no bid placed, I would say that this is not a money issue. If Arsenal had placed the £12million bid and been rejected, then moved on, that would be a possibility, but without making serious inquiries I doubt that's the case. Is Arsene Wenger unhappy with the player's attitude? Is there something about his playing style that he feels wouldn't mesh with the team? I don't know - M'Vila does have some legal and disciplinary history, but that won't always prevent a move.

Even with this being the case, I wouldn't totally rule Yann M'Vila out as a possibility - weird, weird things can happen on a day like today - but it certainly looks unlikely.