Arsenal are understood to be closing in on the signature of Alexis Claude-Maurice after agreeing provisional personal terms with the £17.8m-rated Lorient forward.
Gunners boss Unai Emery is expected to be active during the ongoing transfer window as he aims to rebuild the squad, which finished a disappointing fifth in the Premier League while also suffering an embarrassing Europa League final loss to Chelsea.
With this in mind, the wide attacking department remains a potential point of focus with Danny Welbeck leaving the club this summer while the futures of Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan continue to remain under consideration.
In recent weeks, the Gunners have been pursuing a potential deal for Alexis, who is currently in the ranks of Lorient, and Get French Football News claims that the 21-year-old has already agreed personal terms with the north London side.
Despite this, the club are understood to have failed with two transfer bids with the latest being £14.2m (€16m) but they are not far off from meeting Lorient’s £17.8m (€20m) price tag for the highly-rated forward.
Arsenal have already done business with Lorient over the past year with the surprise signing of Matteo Guendouzi and they should be on the cusp of landing Alexis, given GFFN claim that a third bid is imminent for the France youth international.
Alexis has generally played on the left wing for Lorient and he recently had an impressive season in the French second tier where he notched 14 goals and four assists from 35 appearances..
If the deal is completed, he may take some time to settle to the new surroundings, but should offer the much-needed competition out wide, where the likes of Alex Iwobi and Mkhitaryan struggled to provide the end product.
