Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano responds to rumours linking Arsenal midfielder with Barcelona transfer

Fabrizio Romano has revealed he was surprised to hear transfer rumours linking Arsenal youngster Charlie Patino as a target for Barcelona.

The 19-year-old is a highly regarded prospect at the Emirates Stadium, but he’s yet to see much playing time in Mikel Arteta’s first-team, so it could be that he’ll have to move elsewhere in order to further his career at some point.

Barcelona have recently been linked with Patino in a report from Calciomercato, but Romano says he’s not heard anything about this.

Discussing Patino in his exclusive CaughtOffside column on Substack, Romano said he was sure Arsenal were happy with Patino’s progress, suggesting that there could be a chance for him to play more regularly in the future.

“As we get closer to January it’s inevitable that we’ll get even more transfer gossip stories than usual, and one surprising one I’ve seen involved Arsenal youngster Charlie Patino being a target for Barcelona,” Romano said.

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“Honestly I’ve no news on Patino and Barca, nothing concrete as of now. I’m sure Arsenal are really happy with his progress and he’s really appreciated by all the people into the club.”

Arsenal have a proud record of promoting young players from their academy, with Bukayo Saka the biggest recent success story, while Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah have also made an impact in Arteta’s side.