French radio: Milan, not Arsenal, set to sign M'Baye Niang

It appears that Arsenal have lost out on one of their late-summer transfer targets, as young Caen striker M'Baye Niang looks set to agree on a deal with AC Milan. The report from French radio station RMC claims that Milan will take the player on a year's loan, and that there is an option-to-buy to be included.

Clearly, after a good day for Arsenal Football Club, it's back to the crisis now.

That was a joke, by the way. For a few reasons: first, this isn't necessarily final. RMC say that Niang "might prefer" Milan over Arsenal, and that Milan "could make an offer" in the coming hours. Nothing says or implies that Niang has demanded or even accepted a move to Milan, and the offer hasn't even been made yet, so there's certainly still time for Arsenal to make a move. Beyond that, we just signed Santi Cazorla yesterday - I think that earns Arsenal at least a week off from crisis talk.

Anyway, the details. RMC say that the deal Milan plan to offer includes an initial loan fee of €200,000 for the season, with an additional €4million to purchase permanently at the end of the loan. This is significantly less than the £5million deal allegedly floated by Arsenal (£5million = €6.3million, rather than the €4.2million that this Milan offer would net Caen), but with Caen unhappy with the long period over which Arsenal would pay, one must assume that the Milan offer (should it be accepted) would have much more money moving up front.

One way or the other, this is probably not over yet. If you'll recall, Joel Campbell was absolutely positively not signing for Arsenal for a while just before he signed for Arsenal. Niang may end up in Milan, but don't get too worked up over it right now.

And if you're still upset, go look at pictures of Cazorla or something. He and Arteta have so much fun together!