Barcelona youngster and Arsenal target Ousmane Dembele will remain at the Catalan club next season according to club president Josep Bartomeu.
Metro report that Dembele is a key target for Gunners head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, who helped take the Frenchman to Dortmund in 2016.
Dembele had a difficult first season at the Camp Nou following his £110m switch last summer, as he made just 12 league starts and three in the Champions League.
He scored four times across the two competitions and provided six assists for his teammates.
Speaking about the 21-year-old and another new signing Phillipe Coutinho, Bartomeu said:
[Philippe] Coutinho, [Ousmane] Dembele are for us a big investment. They are very important players and we expect a lot from them. But Dembele is a very young player, a very talented player that we are, of course, expecting a lot from.
He’s been demonstrating during the season that he’s a good young player for us. But, of course, next season will be different. It’s not easy to play in Barcelona the first year because the model of football is quite different from the rest. But after one year I’m sure we are going to see Dembele and Coutinho at a very high level.
Dembele is part of the France squad for the World Cup which kicks off later this month in Russia.
New Gunners boss Unai Emery will be keen to make some big-name signings to get his tenure underway positively having been chosen to take over from the long-serving Arsene Wenger.
