Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has revealed that Arsenal are close to sealing the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund this month.
The Gabon international has seemingly made his mind up to join the north London side, though the deal is being put on hold to discuss the final valuation.
Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc recently suggested that the Gunners had made no contact whatsoever for their marksman, but Balague believes the Bundesliga side are lying, and talks are currently at an advanced stage, he said on his YouTube channel:
“With Aubameyang everything is agreed, no problems there at all he’s happy to go to Arsenal. Borussia Dortmund have been saying they have not talked to Arsenal, but they have.”
Meanwhile, the Catalan-born journalist cited that the Gunners could pursue Aubameyang for a club-record fee between £52m-57m, but it may cost lesser, should Olivier Giroud be offered as a makeweight in the proposed deal, he added:
“I think everybody is in the understanding that between €60-€65 million, with or without a player like Olivier Giroud going, it will be a deal Dortmund will be happy to accept.”
Arsenal are also discussing the possibility of an exchange deal with Manchester United involving Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but the deal is likely to be prolonged for at least 36 hours with the financial package yet to be solved.
The north London side are still discussing the wage structure for Mkhitaryan, who is said to demand at least £175,000-a-week whilst they are also holding out for a transfer fee in addition to the Armenian’s arrival at the Emirates this month.
Arsenal play host to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, and they will fancy their chances of securing the first league win of 2018 with a number of first-team regulars returning after injury setbacks.
