Arsenal have made enquiries about Sporting Lisbon centre-back Ousmane Diomande, according to Record.

The Portuguese tabloid claim that the Gunners have been keeping tabs on the Ivorian’s performances in recent months but Sporting have already made it clear that the defender is not for sale.

Diomande only made the move from Danish club FC Midtjylland during the January transfer window and the player has an €80m (£69m) release clause in his contract.

With that being the case, it seems very unlikely that Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to make a bid for the 19-year-old this summer.

Arsenal are not exactly short of centre-half options

The arrival of Jurrien Timber from Ajax means that Arteta effectively has five senior centre-backs at his disposal. The Dutchman may play mostly as a right-back for the Gunners but he was almost exclusively deployed in the middle of defence last season.

William Saliba, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior and Rob Holding are the other options, and you could also add both Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney into the mix as well.

For that reason, you can’t see Diomande being considered as a priority target but the club are clearly keeping tabs on his progress.

The Gunners were first linked with the player back in January

Prior to his move to Sporting, the Daily Mail had mentioned that Arsenal and Manchester City were scouting the teenager.

It seems as if Arteta’s team have continued to watch the player since the New Year. If they wanted to sign him for a reasonable price, though, they probably should have made their move for him earlier.

While Sporting may not necessarily hold out for the full €80m (£69m), the Portuguese side are clearly not willing to let him go on the cheap. It may be something the Gunners live to regret.