Arsenal are close to sealing a move for Sporting Lisbon forward Viktor Gyökeres, sources have told ESPN.
Sources said personal terms have been agreed over a five-year deal for the 26-year-old and that negotiations between the two clubs have accelerated in recent days.
Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta flew out to Lisbon for direct talks with Sporting president Frederico Nuno Faro Varandas and the club’s new sporting director Bernardo Palmeiro.
A full agreement is close for a fee of €65 million ($76.6m). The structure of the deal is still to be finalised but there is optimism from the north London club that they will get their man.
Gyökeres, who scored 54 goals in 52 appearances in all competitions last season in Portugal, was preferred to Benjamin Sesko by Mikel Arteta to be Arsenal’s marquee signing of the summer.
While the Premier League side are closing in on a deal for a long-coveted No. 9, they are also actively looking for a left winger and a source has told ESPN that talks with Chelsea and Noni Madueke are ongoing and very positive.
Super agent Ali Barat is involved in making the deal happen and there is already an agreement between Arsenal and the player, like Gyökeres, over a five-year deal.
Talks with Chelsea are ongoing and could be all done by the end of the week, the source said, for a fee of around €50m. Chelsea signed Madueke from PSV Eindhoven in 2023 for €35m.
Arteta has always been a big fan of the England international and Arsenal looked into his signing last summer. Even if his best position is as a right winger, where Bukayo Saka plays, Arteta believes he can develop him into a great left winger.
Talks are also continuing with Crystal Palace and Eberechi Eze, sources said.
Again, things are positive between the three parties but Palace have fixed a fee of €65m for their star player. Eze, like Madueke, is keen on moving to Arsenal.
It is unclear, however, if the club can sign both wide players after completing a move for Gyökeres, which should be done first.
Arsenal will have to find clubs for players like Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior, Reiss Nelson or Leandro Trossard to afford the wingers.
The club will announce the signing of Christian Nørgaard from Brentford for €13m soon and have already confirmed deals for midfielder Martín Zubimendi from Real Sociedad and Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea. Arsenal have also extended the contracts of defenders Gabriel and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
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