It seems Reece James won't be joining the ongoing exodus at Chelsea - at least not to join Arsenal anyway.
New manager Mauricio Pochettino hasn't messed about with his bid to overhaul his squad, with Mason Mount the latest star out the door after the Blues agreed a deal worth a potential £60 million with Man United. And it makes him the eighth player to be shown the door since the Argentinian took over.
Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante, Ruben Loftus Cheek, and Kai Havertz have also been let go, with the latter's transfer of particular significance. German star Havertz will join the Gunners for a fee in the region of £65 million, a deal which has caught many Chelsea fans by surprise.
Havertz, 24, underwhelmed in an unfamiliar central striker role last season, but remained a cult hero at Stamford Bridge after scoring the Champions League winner in the 2020/21 final. And he'll reunite with another former Blue, Jorginho, who made the same switch in January.
Indeed, the pair follows the like of Willian and Petr Cech, both of who also swapped blue for red after firmly establishing themselves in the history books at Chelsea. Olivier Giroud meanwhile, was one star to go the other way.
But it seems that England international James won't be following suit. The 23-year-old defender, who suffered World Cup heartbreak in December when he missed the tournament in Qatar with injury, brutally dismissed the notion of a move across the capital on social media.
Gunners fan @ambehi wrote: "Reece James to Arsenal who says no?" Whether he was expecting an actual reply from the star was unclear, but he certainly got one, with James responding: "I say no."
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The riposte went down well with current club fans, with the @TheBlueDodgerwriting: "This is the tweet." @LiquidatorPod added: "Real one. At least we know there’s a few true blues in our ranks."
Academy graduate James first joined Chelsea in 2006, when aged just seven-years-old. He's since gone on to make 147 appearances in all competitions for the club, but his 2022/13 campaign was essentially ruined by injury.
He was out for two months after picking up a knee injury in October, only to sidelined for another month after the problem flared up again in his first game back. In April, his campaign was ended prematurely after picking up a hamstring injury.
