Arsenal appear to have finally completed their second major signing of the summer.
There’s been lots of talk this week about Arsenal’s pursuit of Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes, with some reports suggesting the likes of Manchester United were going to hijack Arsenal’s approaches for the Brazilian.
But now, according to reliable Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal have completed a ‘total agreement’ to sign the 22-year-old defender. He says that the player will sign a contract until 2025 (five year deal) and pay 30million euros to Lille (including add ons). He adds that Arsenal fans should expect an announcement at the start of next week.
We’ve been keeping you up to date throughout Arsenal’s chase for Gabriel Magalhaes, including the news yesterday that hinted Arsenal had got their man.
Gabriel Magalhães to Arsenal, here we go! Total agreement just completed: he will fly on Monday to London to sign his contract until June 2025, €30M to Lille (add ons included), official statement on next week. The deal is finally done. ⚪️? #AFC #Arsenal #transfers
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 22, 2020
Arsenal had been competing with Napoli and Manchester United to secure the signature of the highly rated Gabriel and so it is some coup for the Gunners to finalise this one.
In David Luiz, William Saliba, Pablo Mari and Gabriel Magalhaes – Arsenal will have a good balance of two naturally right sided central defenders and two left. The Gunners now appear to be willing to listen to offers for Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Sokratis. There is interest in Chambers from Fulham and in Sokratis from Napoli.
Look out for our detailed analysis of Gabriel Magalhaes coming to fresharsenal.com in the next couple of days.