Exclusive – Clement rules out Morata and Coentrao Real Madrid exits

Arsenal’s pursuit of Real Madrid star Alvaro Morata may be over for the time being, as Real Madrid assistant manager Paul Clement told talkSPORT there will be no transfer activity from the La Liga giants during the January window.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had confirmed he would be open to a loan switch for the young Spanish forward this month, after the 21-year-old admitted he may have to look away from the Bernabeu for regular first-team football.

Meanwhile, Manchester United are thought to be continuing their chase for Portuguese international Fabio Coentrao’s signature, after failing to sign the full-back in the summer.

But Clement insists the two Los Blancos stars will not be leaving due to their thin squad - though he suggests the club may be open to offers in the summer.

When asked whether Madrid would be willing to allow Morata and Coentrao to leave in January, Clement told Drivetime: “I don’t think so at this point.

“Alvaro is going to attract interest because he is a very talented young player, he’ll be very sought-after.

“But we have a small squad here, we’re working with 20 outfield players and we currently have two players out with injury, so that leaves us with 18.

“These are the players that I’m pretty sure we will work with for the rest of the season.

“I don’t see any movement in this window at all from us. We’ve very happy with the players we’ve got and in the majority of cases the players are happy at the club and want to help us be successful this year in every competition.

“I’m not sure what might happen next summer, but that’s certainly the case now.

“We’ll move through January into the business end of the season with the squad we’ve currently got.”