Arsenal have been dealt a double transfer blow as the agents of both Christoph Kramer and Grzegorz Krychowiak - two of the Gunners' purported January targets - played down reports linking their clients to the north London outfit.
The Gunners are expected to bring in a decent holding midfielder when the transfer window opens in the New Year, with the performances of club captain Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini failing to impress the pundits or the fans - and that's putting it mildly.
Krychowiak has been doing great things with Sevilla, after arriving from Ligue 1 side Reims for £5.5m last summer. The Poland international's dominating displays in midfield have helped the club do well in La Liga this season, and they currently remain just two points behind early leaders Real Madrid.
The 24-year-old, who also impressed in Poland's 2-0 win over Germany in Warsaw last month, was heavily linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks. However, the player's representative Cezary Kucharski has now dismissed all speculations, saying there has been no contact between the two camps.
"At the moment I have no contact with Arsenal in relation to Krychowiak. He is focused 100 percent on Sevilla, and not thinking about any other club," Seville-based paper Estadio Deportivo quoted the agent as saying.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have also been linked with an approach for Bayer Leverkusen's Kramer. The German spent last season on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach and impressed, earning a place in Joachim Low's squad for Brazil 2014, which eventually won the World Cup.
With the likes of Lars Bender, Simon Rolfes and Stefan Reinartz giving him competition at Leverkusen, Kramer has returned to Monchengladbach on loan for this season as well, and has been doing well once again.
The Gunners have been strongly linked with a move for the 24-year-old of late but his agent Emanuele Marchetti has now rubbished the rumours, and even went on to state that Napoli - who have a longstanding interest in Kramer - hold an advantage, if he leaves Germany.
"For the moment he is very happy and settled in Germany. If things changed, Napoli would be one of the first clubs to be informed," Marchetti stated.
