Arsenal and Barcelona have been linked with swapping high profile defenders in January, and Fabrizio Romano has detailed the latest he’s hearing on the rumour.

Arsenal and Barcelona are both leading their respective leagues right now, though reports over the past 48 hours have talked up a swap deal that could, in theory, be beneficial to all involved.

The idea of sending Piero Hincapie to the Camp Nou and receiving Alejandro Balde in return has been mentioned.

Neither player is featuring regularly at their current clubs this season. Hincapie has zero starts in the Premier League to his name, while Balde has remained an unused substitute in seven of 11 LaLiga matches.

The speculation has prompted transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, to weigh in on the story when reporting on his YouTube channel.

On Friday evening, Romano explained: “Yeah, a lot of rumours about this story regarding Piero Hincapie, regarding Alejandro Balde.

“Why this story? Because the Alejandro Balde situation, I said already in several videos here on the channel, is going to be one to watch, definitely because Balde was already on the list of the potential exits for Barcelona in the summer.

“Then we know the deal didn’t happen with Man United or any other side because Barcelona were open to selling Alejandro Balde, but they were not accepting normal conditions or for example, a loan.

“That’s for August 2026. So when Man United explored the conditions of the deal, the answer from Barcelona was a permanent transfer, big money, and also the financial requests from the player was important, and then at that time Alejandro Balde was not so keen on leaving Barcelona.

“Balde loves Barca, loves the club, loves the badge, loves the fans, loves the city.

“So he doesn’t want to go, then now in the last almost three months August to September, September to October and now we’re about to see the international break in November… Balde is not playing.

“Balde is never on the pitch, and so obviously there are many links and reports.

“The story is that Alejandro Balde could be now open to consider an exit in the January transfer window if the situation will continue like this in the next two months.

“So let’s see what’s going to happen. It’s still early, but Alejandro Balde leaving Barcelona in January is not something that we have to rule out 100 percent because it will depend on the proposals, on the formula and on the player’s final position. But for sure not playing is generating these links.

Arsenal won’t sell Piero Hincapie – Fabrizio Romano

“Then when it’s about Piero Hincapie and the swap deal between Arsenal and Barcelona, I don’t see this happening for one reason – Arsenal have no intention to sell Hincapie.

“Arsenal have no intention to change anything in their back four for the January transfer window. They are super happy with the players they have.

“I think the conversation should be on one of the best defences in the recent history of the game because Arsenal are really incredible with their way of defending, and so Hincapie can play as a centre-back and as a left-back.

“He’s a very important player for Mikel Arteta and so I don’t see this one happening.”