Arsenal linked with Barcelona midfielder

According to the Spanish paper El Mundo, Arsenal are pursuing young Barcelona midfielder Sergi Samper and are planning on activating a €12 million (£8.36 million) release clause in his contract. Samper is only 20, and while he hasn't made a league appearance yet for Barcelona's first team he played in three Copa del Rey games and one Champions League game last season.

Kike Marin mentioned that Samper could have come to Arsenal along with Jon Toral and Héctor Bellerín in 2011, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that he could have changed his mind – perhaps even in part due to Bellerín's success last season. Samper is behind at least Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano and Sergi Roberto, and the Express also claims that Samper "feels he's outgrown Barca B," and may find Arsenal to be a better solution.

€12 million seems like a lot for someone with only four first-team appearances, but this is Barcelona, so it makes some sense at least. Good players get pushed out there all the time. But still, I'll give this the grain-of-salt treatment until something more substantial happens.