Fabrizio Romano has given his verdict on claims Arsenal and Barcelona could swap two defenders in January.

Arsenal’s biggest strength right now is their defence, with Mikel Arteta boasting an abundance of high calibre defenders not only in his starting eleven, but on the bench too.

One of the unlucky souls falling foul of the extraordinary strength in depth this season is Piero Hincapie.

The Ecuador international has racked up just 46 minutes of action in the Premier League this term, with Riccardo Calafiori nailing down the starting spot at left-back. At left centre-back, Gabriel Magalhaes is immoveable.

Accordingly, reports over the past few days have talked up a potential swap deal that would see Hincapie move to Barcelona and specialist left-back, Alejandro Balde, arrive in north London.

Taking to YouTube on Friday evening to cut through the speculation, Romano stated: “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.”