Barcelona tell Arsenal to forget about signing David Villa in January - The Guardian

Barcelona's president Sandro Rosell has warned Arsenal that they can forget about signing David Villa, who played 24 minutes as a substitute in the 4-0 win over Espanyol last Saturday, during the January transfer window.

The Gunners are expected to strengthen their options up front, having offloaded the misfit Marouane Chamakh on a six-month loan deal to West Ham.

Rosell, however, maintains that the 31-year-old Villa, signed in a £31m deal from Valencia in 2010, is going nowhere. "I completely rule out the transfer of Villa during the winter market," he said to the Catalan radio station RAC1. "He is ours and we need him, there is a lot of the season left."

Arsenal are also reported to be interested in Atlético Madrid's Adrian López, while Arsène Wenger is said to be looking at further midfield options, with Anderlecht's Argentinian Lucas Biglia said to be one of them.

São Paulo, meanwhile, are confident they can turn Denílson's loan move into a permanent transfer.

Arsenal now head into a run of fixtures which could define their season. Following the 2-2 draw at Swansea in the FA Cup, they face a replay next week, just a few days after the champions Manchester City visit the Emirates. They then travel to Chelsea on 20 January before tackling West Ham in the rearranged Boxing Day fixture, which is followed by a possible FA Cup fourth-round tie at Brighton ahead of the visit of Liverpool.

Per Mertesacker, Arsenal's German defender, feels the Gunners can meet their busy schedule head on, moreover. "We are in a good way but we have to keep our focus on these games [against Manchester City and Chelsea] and the knockout stages of the Champions League," he said. "We have to win those games now.

"We are always looking to win something and we can achieve something with this group. We have a lively group so our thoughts are now on the next match. That is the most important thing for us, not what's going to happen in May.

"We have a few targets in our team that are possible this year. We won't talk about it, we'll just see what happens in the next few important weeks on the pitch."