Patience is a virtue, for it is patience that allows you to enjoy the finest things in life. An 1865 Chateau Lafite, a rich pasta sauce, a soft Brexit. But best of all, if you wait around long enough, you will always be able to indulge in a new story linking Karim Benzema to Arsenal.

It’s tremendously rewarding, therefore, to see the Gunners linked with their favourite Frenchman this morning.

Completely without warning or logic, the Star (via its Spanish soulmate Don Balon, naturally) has claimed that Arsene Wenger will turn to the Real Madrid striker if Alexis Sanchez quits the Emirates for Paris Saint-Germain.

No matter that the Gunners have already signed Alexandre Lacazette to play up front, or that PSG are reported to be closing in on a world-record deal for Neymar.

These things are not important. All that matters is Wenger “still wants the France international” and this means the dream of him one day moving to north London remains alive. As long as we are prepared to wait for it. And we are.

As for Neymar, his proposed £196m move to Paris is not quite rubber-stamped yet – although we understand it soon will be.

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The Mirror quotes the Brazilian as saying he is “happy” at Barcelona and looking forward to the coming La Liga season.

Although it’s worth pointing out that the Mirror gets these quotes from a Goal story which simultaneously states that Neymar is “ready to leave Barca for PSG”. Confusing? Yes.

Unhappy Levy

Antonio Conte’s new two-year Chelsea deal (not very long, is it?) has seemingly given the Blues a much-needed confidence boost in the transfer market.

After being bullied by Manchester United over Romelu Lukaku, the west Londoners are now set to bully Manchester City over Ryan Bertrand and Benjamin Mendy. That’s always the way with bullies.

The Star says Conte is keen on City’s two left-back targets, although it’s not clear whether he knows that Chelsea already sold Bertrand once.

In a series of events that will make Daniel Levy very unhappy, the Mirror claims that Ross Barkley wants “bigger wages than Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris” to move to White Hart Lane Wembley. Worse still, Everton continue to demand £50m for the midfielder while Spurs only want to pay £15m.

But worser and worser still, the Mail says Levy may have to pay £30m flop Moussa Sissoko to leave the club because nobody else is prepared to match the Frenchman’s £85,000-a-week wages. This really is terrible. If you want to send Daniel a goodwill message, you should contact him directly via his Sainsbury’s Nectar Card account.

Elsewhere, West Ham are “close” to adding Bayer Leverkusen’s Javier Hernandez to their ranks in a £13m deal (Express), Newcastle and Crystal Palace are chasing Hammers goalkeeper Adrian following Joe Hart’s arrival at London Stadium (Mirror) and Eagles defender Scott Dann is a target for Chinese Super League outfit Beijing Guoan (Sun). Wow, those new tax rules enforced by the Chinese government are hitting teams even harder than expected.

@darlingkevin