The 17-year-old is rated as one of the best young defenders in Europe and has also attracted interest from Juventus.

However, both Dmitriev and his club Torpedo Moscow have played down claims that a transfer in the offing.

"I haven't signed a contract with Arsenal as some newspapers have wrote," said Dmitriev.

"If the interest is true, such a deal would only be possible anyway if the clubs have negotiated."

Reports claim that Arsenal have agreed a deal with Torpedo to take Dmitriev in the summer - but their president Alexandr Tukmatov has denied this.

"Nobody from England has contacted us enquiring about Dmitriev," he said.

Dmitriev's agent Alexei Skoroed admitted there was previously an interest from Arsenal, but it was from their youth department.

"At the moment we are talking about a prior interest from Arsenal," he said.

"I got information from one European agent, but there have not been anymore phone calls from England at the moment.

"Their interest was from the junior side.

"Earlier Italians were also interested in signing him, but he got injured and only came back last October."