Premier League: Arsene Wenger determined to keep Hector Bellerin at Arsenal

After reports in Spanish media linked Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin with a move to giants FC Barcelona, Gunners manager Arsene Wenger reacted quite strongly. The Arsenal boss dismissed the reports and said that the youngster should have a bright long-term future at the Emirates Stadium. Bellerin had joined Arsenal when he was just 16 years old after he was trained at the famous Barcelona youth academy. He wouldn't be the first Barcelona youngster to join Arsenal and then return to his boyhood club after midfielder Cesc Fabregas made the same move. Barcelona vice-president Jordi Mestre did not add fuel to the fire, limiting himself to describing 21-year-old Bellerin as a "great player". "He has nearly three years to go, we always try to get the players to the financial level where we think they deserve to be," Arsene Wenger said. "We will try to extend his contract, his long-term future is here. He has been absolutely fantastic. His first game was a nightmare. The season before he was at Watford where he didn't play. His progress has been brilliant because he has absolutely top mental strength." In 2011 Arsene Wenger lost Cesc Fabregas as the midfielder expressed his desire to return to his boyhood club. The French boss doesn't think Bellerin would get homesick as well. "I think now that you do not necessarily have to play where you were born," he said. "Modern life is not exactly like that and what is important is that the player meets his needs where he is and his values, and I think he integrated very well the values of our club and he came at a very, very young age of 15-and-a-half, 16 years of age. I think he is a real Arsenal player." Arsenal are 7/1 at Bet365 to win the Premier League title this season.