• Arsenal turn down offer for their captain out of hand • Barça will not go beyond their £35m valuation

Arsenal have turned down an offer from Barcelona for their captain, Cesc Fábregas, according to reports last night. The bid is reported by the Sun and Telegraph to be worth £27m and is said to have been rejected out of hand.

The Spanish club had been expected to make a renewed attempt to sign Fábregas, who began his career at Camp Nou, after having offers rejected last summer. It is anticipated that they will return with an improved bid but they have stated that they will not pay more than £35m for the midfielder.

Their president, Sandro Rosell, spelt out the club's position and claimed this week that Fábregas was doing "all he can" to join Pep Guardiola's Spanish and European champions.

"Guardiola knows the values of players and Cesc's is less than €40m (£35.4m)," Rosell said. "Barcelona will offer less and, if they don't accept, then he won't come."