Following rumours that Barcelona decided to sign Jean-Micheal Seri because so many of the club’s fans kept mentioning him on social media, Arsenal supporters have been doing their best to make the Catalan giants aware of Theo Walcott.

Nice midfielder Seri was expected to move to Spain in the next few days – until a last minute change of heart from the club – as they seek to bolster their squad following the departure of Neymar.

But the 26-year-old only became a target of the Barca board because he appeared to be so popular with fans on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to radio station RAC1.

Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Show all 5 1 /5 Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund) The Independent revealed on Tuesday that Dembele was at the top of Barcelona’s list of Neymar replacements. The 20-year-old looks like he is pushing for a transfer out of the German club after a training-ground bust-up with teammates further fuelled the rumours. He is a natural replacement for Neymar as a wideman with pace to burn and at five years his junior, he has bags of potential. Bongarts/Getty Images Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Paulo Dybala (Juventus) The other player revealed by The Independent to be top of the list of replacements is Dybala. The 23-year-old is one of the hottest young players on the planet and is tipped for a big future with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United also keeping tabs on him. However, Barca may use his relationship with Lionel Messi to persuade him to come to the Nou Camp. Dybala and his Argentine teammate are close friends off the pitch and often play video games together. Getty Images Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) Coutinho has already been the subject of one rejected bid from Barca this summer and expect them to go back in for another one. The Brazilian has been part of the standard Barcelona trademarked recruitment campaign with current and ex-pros saying how suited he is to the Catalan club. The Independent has already revealed that Coutinho’s people are “70 per cent” sure that the move will go ahead once Neymar leaves. Liverpool FC via Getty Images Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) Catalan-based daily Sport revealed this week that Griezmann would be the man Barcelona will go for to replace Neymar. The Frenchman is a commercial goldmine as well as already being proven in La Liga as playing in a variety of attacking roles. His purchase would also weaken a rival but given the way he rejected Manchester United earlier in the summer, it would take a monumental offer to persuade him to leave. Bongarts/Getty Images Five players to replace Neymar at Barcelona Kylian Mbappe (Monaco) The 18-year-old is the best young player around, with it seeming last week that Real Madrid had beaten the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to his signature. However, with £198m in the bank now, on top of the rest of their existing transfer budget, Barcelona could blow Real out of the water with another world-record move. To take a player of Mbappe’s quality from under the nose of their biggest rivals could only be seen as a good transfer window, even with Neymar’s exit. AFP/Getty Images

When this claim was revealed on Twitter, scores of Arsenal fans began to flood official Barcelona social media accounts with messages like “Sign Walcott”, “Theo Walcott is such a fantastic player” and “Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott Walcott”.

The English forward has spent more than a decade in north London but has never truly delivered on the promise he showed when joining as a 16-year-old from Southampton.

Now 28, Walcott has been linked with a move away to the likes of West Ham and Everton this summer but remains on the books.