Report: Arsenal Had Bid For Ex-Man City Star Rejected By Barcelona

Arsenal made a late bid for Barcelona attacker Ferran Torres, but it was rejected as Xavi wished to keep the Spaniard at the Camp Nou for the upcoming season.

Torres joined Barcelona from Manchester City in 2021 for £47.5million and has become an important squad member without nailing down a first team place.

El Nacional have revealed that Arsenal had a bid to sign Ferran Torres turned down by Barcelona at the behest of Xavi Hernandez in the last days of the transfer window.

Barcelona have had a busy transfer window, particularly strengthening their attack by signing the likes of Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich and Raphinha from Leeds United.

That encouraged Arsenal to see if they’d be open to selling Torres, and they launched a £26 million bid for the player on deadline day.

However, they decided not to push ahead with a deal, instead turning to manager Xavi to decide the forward’s future.

He elected to keep Torres in Catalonia – insisting that he remained a key part of his plans at the club, then leading to Arsenal’s bid eventually being turned down.

Torres, 22, has made 29 appearances for Barcelona since his big-money switch from Man City. In that time, he has scored seven goals.

The forward has been restricted to just one start so far this season, whilst making brief cameos against both Real Valladolid and Sevilla over recent weeks with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Ansu Fati having been preferred.

Torres’ contract at the Camp Nou is set to run until the summer of 2027.