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“There Is No Agreement With Arsenal” – President Denies £8m Deal In Place

By mac14 on January 17, 2014

Arsenal proposed move for Paul-George Ntep has taken yet another twist with Auxerre president Guy Cotret insisting no agreement is in place for the forward to move to north London.

Rumours have been rife this past week that Ntep is set to join Arsenal. It all began last Saturday when the player posted an image on his Instagram account of him on the Eurostar en route to London, with many believing he was heading for talks with Arsene Wenger.

The following day, Auxerre president Guy Cotret confirmed that the forward had held talks with Arsenal but no deal was in place, while a Rennes youth player claimed on Twitter that Ntep HAD agreed to join us and would be loaned to Rennes for the rest of the season.

Then, on Thursday we brought you reports from Auxerre TV, the regions main local television station, that claimed a move was ‘within hours’ of being completed after we had supposedly agreed a €10m (£8m) fee with Auxerre and the 21-year-old had agreed terms over a long-term contract.

However, this information seems to be well wide of the mark, with the Ligue 1 outfit’s president, Guy Cotret, once again denying any deal is in place for the transfer of Ntep to Arsenal.

He told RMC Sport:

“It’s not anything, there is no agreement with Arsenal. There is nothing. We have not even received an offer from the club. Arsenal has not even expressed an interest in our club. We just received an offer for the player and it was Rennes. “

Hmmmm. So only days ago Cotret confirmed Ntep had held talks with us, yet he’s now saying Arsenal haven’t expressed an interest? Surely in order for us to have permission to talk with the player, we had to contact Auxerre to express our interest and ask permission?

This whole thing is becoming ridiculous, but I suppose we should be used to it by now. This is how modern day transfers unfold.

No doubt this saga has a few twists and turns left to play out before it’s put to bed, so I’ll do my best to keep you up-to-date as things progress.