Barella, 21, currently plays for Cagliari as a box-to-box midfielder for the Serie A side and is under contract until 2022.
The central midfielder joined the club at a very tender age, before making his way through the youth ranks, which followed a short loan spell with Como in the second half of the 15/16 season.
With only one goal in nine appearances so far this season, and 6 in 35 last season, Barella isn’t an “Aaron Ramsey” just yet, but that isn’t really what he is in the side to do.
An expert from range and with direct free-kicks, four of his 11 career goals have been penalties, while two have come from a direct freekick.
Away from his dead ball ability, his overall finishing is relatively poor but that’s something he can improve.
Concentration, an issue for so many Arsenal players, is not something Barella struggles with, and his tackling in the centre of the park is very good.
With the new regime in place at Arsenal, it’s hard to know what to expect from any transfer window, making it tough to rule rumours in and out.
The initial report on this story is very light on details but it might just be a story worth keeping an eye on as Arsenal work out how best to replace Aaron Ramsey.