Is Arsenal after Barcelona's Sergi Samper again?

Arsenal has been after a defensive midfielder for a while, if you believe all the transfer rumor smoke we've been seeing almost since I've been a fan of the team. One of the more interesting names that was floated over the summer was Barcelona reserve player/future star/supposed "next Xavi" Sergi Samper. Well, guess what:

Barcelona want €6m for midfielder Sergi Samper with Arsenal willing to pay. It could be closed in January. [Mundo Deportivo]

— Arsenal News (@__arsenalnews_) December 29, 2015

Bozz, who knows Spanish sources better than I do, says that Mundo Deportivo is to Barcelona sort of what Marca is to Real Madrid – relatively reliable on news for that team, but basically hot garbage for everything else. That, along with the fact that it looks like Arsenal are about to buy a different pseudo-DM and could have another in the making, put me in mind to think this is more likely to be agent talk than an actual possibility.

But on the other hand, we could be losing both Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini after this season, as their contracts are expiring and Arsène Wenger doesn't seem to be in a massive hurry to re-sign either. Mohamed Elneny isn't in yet. Calum Chambers has one start in midfield. Francis Coquelin has performed, but also has well-documented limitations. Other internal youth options like Krystian Bielik clearly aren't ready yet. And all the while, Samper appears to have been somewhat overlooked at Barcelona, and he wouldn't even be the first player like that to leave the Catalans this winter.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much right now, but this could be one to keep one eye on.