These transfer rumours won’t leave Andrei Arshavin alone, after being linked with money-bags Anzhi Makhachkala, now it’s a swap deal with German club Schalke with Jefferson Farfan going the other way.

The Russian international has found first team football hard to come by this season, only making five Premiership appearances.

Arshavin has recently stated that he wants to leave the Emirates so if he remains on the bench and as his £15m valuation is similar to Schalke’s rating of Farfan a swap could suit both sides.

The 30-year-old said earlier this week: “Right now I don’t think about changing clubs. If I will be benched for a very long time, then such an issue might be relevant.  I still want to play for 90 minutes, but now I am glued to the bench.”

According to Russian news agency Novosti, Schalke have already informed Arsenal of their interest in Arshavin.

Reports from the German media suggest the Bundesliga side do not want to let Farfan go, but may want to take an exchange deal to avoid such a valuable asset leaving for free
when his contract expires next summer.

At 27 the Peruvian is no spring chicken (in football terms anyway), so if Arsene Wenger did sign him he would need to settle into the Premier League straight away.

Arsenal could really do with a proven goalscorer, not another attacking midfielder/striker that is very similar to many of their current players like Theo Walcott, Gervinho and Tomas Rosicky.

And since joining Schalke from PSV in 2008 Farfan has scored 21 goals in 97 appearances, so he is far from prolific.