Sandro Tonali to Arsenal transfer truth as Andrea Berta stance clear and agent speaks out

Sandro Tonali was linked with a shock deadline day transfer to Arsenal - with Andrea Berta since making his stance clear on the Newcastle United midfielder.

Arsenal were not in direct contact with Newcastle United with regards to a transfer for Sandro Tonali on Monday, it has been revealed.

Rumours emerged on deadline day that the Gunners were exploring the possibility of tempting the Italy midfielder to the Emirates Stadium, as Mikel Arteta scouted the market for a short-term replacement for injured Mikel Merino.

It was revealed on Sunday that the Spaniard is set to have surgery on his foot as a result of injury.

It will come as a crushing blow to Arsenal fans, given just how instrumental the 29-year-old has been to the club's success this season. Meanwhile, a club statement suggested that Merino will be side-lined for an 'extended period' as he continues his rehabilitation.

It read: "Further to sustaining a foot injury towards the end of our game against Manchester United on January 25, subsequent assessments and specialist reviews have confirmed Mikel Merino has a bone injury in his right foot.

"Mikel will now have surgery in the coming days, and will then begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme. Mikel is expected to be out of action for an extended period, with the aim of returning to full training before the end of the season.

"Everyone is fully focused on supporting Mikel to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible."

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The injury has also led to speculation that Arsenal might make a last-ditch attempt to snap-up a replacement for Merino, as they look to secure their first Premier League title in more than two decades.

Newcastle star Tonali, ultimately, emerged as a would-be candidate - given his success at St James' Park over the past year-and-a-half.

However, any hopes of securing the 25-year-old have since been dashed, with David Ornstein explaining exactly what happened regarding Tonali.

Taking to X (was Twitter), the journalist wrote: "Sandro Tonali offered to Arsenal by agent so #AFC explored but no contact with Newcastle United; nothing will happen this window. 25yo's camp put idea to Andrea Berta so looked into as per any player of interest. #NUFC exit now impossible."

Elsewhere, Fabrizio Romano quotes Tonali's agent, Giuseppe Riso, as saying: "We never had any conversation with Arsenal. Newcastle were never gonng [going to] let Tonali leave in January. There's absolutely nothing into that. We didn’t even talk about it."

That comes after Arsenal were handed a bitter blow in their pursuit for Hearts' James Wilson on Monday afternoon, with Tottenham Hotspur seemingly beating their north London rivals to his signature. The Gunners entered talks for the 18-year-old at the weekend, as confirmed by Hearts boss Derek McInnes.

He said: "I'll leave that to Graeme Jones, he's the one that deals with it. I think there was conversations with Arsenal yesterday (Sunday), they call and spoke to Graeme, but there has been nothing since from Arsenal.

"I heard about Tottenham as well, but Tottenham have had no discussions with us directly, so who knows with that, it's up to Graeme Jones to deal with. But I think any player going out will have to have benefit to the club."

While the Emirates Stadium looked like the most likely destination for Wilson for the rest of the season, it now appears as though he will head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, instead. Reports suggest that the Scotland international is on his way to London to formalise a loan move with Spurs.