Cristian Zapata's Arsenal move will be put on hold for the 3rd concurrent season

It seems like the 23-year-old defender won't complete an estimated £12m away move this year, at least not to Arsenal - the bad news has to do with my assumption which is contrary to earlier reports that suggested otherwise.

Shortly after the Friulan outfit's 7-0 demolition of Montebelluna, Zapata told friends and relatives that he was looking forward to a bright new campaign with the Serie A club. In fact this is what he told Skysport24 three days ago regarding the stiff competition for a place in Francesco Guidolin's starting XI: "Now our team is getting better; The team is improving and we are running a lot better. We are training very well ahead of the season. And I'm glad there is progress in our work. "Benatar is a good defender. There is good competition for the role, and I'm prepared for that."

To be exact, he knows he's got to be at his flying best to comfortably book a place in a team brimming with 12 defenders; Andrea Coda, Aleksandar Lukovic, Jonni Cabrera, Mauricio Isla, Ricardo Chara to mention but a few.