Arsenal are reproted to have shown a big interest in much admired Hammers central defender Issa Diop.

However, when the Hammers slapped a £65 million price tag on the 22 year old and resisted their advances – as they did Manchester United – the Gunners backed off .

Arsenal boss Unai Emery is involved in a big spat with  Laurent Koscielny who is refusing to go on a pre-season tour and looks certain to move on.

As a result he has been  casting around for central defenders and although Diop was high on his list, according to the Daily Mail’s sports pages quotingt Foot Mercato,. the interest cooled considerably when the Hammers price was made known to him

Arsenal have managed to recruit  £27million signing of William Saliba from St Etienne but he has immediately been sent back to his former club on a loan.

That left the Gunners looking hard at but Diop but not for long when the £65 million was mentioned as it had been with the Old Trafford club before them.

ClaretandHugh says: If we hadn’t known it already we do now, Issa Diop has gained a big reputation over his first season and will again remain very much in the shop window in his second. It always seemed as though that’s the way it was going to be from the moment Jose Mourinho made his famous “he’s a monster” comment after we had beaten his Reds at the London Stadium last season. Now we look for the type of campaign from the Irons which will ensure that the young Frenchman – and of course Declan Rice – that their futures are with us as a European competing club next season. Diop, bought for £22 million has a price tag on him three times his transfer fee and, that he and our defensve midfielder, should be happy to stay with the Hammers without any wrangling and fuss going on this summer is very good news. Things look set fair for an important season for them both.