Arsenal closing in on deadline day winger signing after personal terms agreement

Deadline day is moving fast at Arsenal.

Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira are all close to completing permanent moves away from the Emirates, and Ethan Nwaneri is off to Borussia Dortmund on loan.

Those departures surely leave room for an attacker signing before the window shuts.

The Athletic reported yesterday that Arsenal were weighing up a move for Malick Fofana from Lyon.

The 21-year-old left winger has already spoken directly to Mikel Arteta and Lyon’s failure to qualify for the Champions League league phase has created a market opportunity.

But it seems now that the Ligue 1 side clearly aware of Arsenal’s need for a left winger and may be using that as leverage.

According to Turkish journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu, who has over two million followers on X, Arsenal have reached an agreement with Fofana ‘on all personal matters’.

The player and his agent are said to be holding off offers from other Premier League and Serie A clubs in order to wait for Arsenal. Fofana wants to join the champions of England.

But Lyon aren’t playing ball. The player is pushing to make it happen but the two clubs are yet to agree a fee.

Whether this is an alternative to the Julian Alvarez pursuit or a separate move entirely remains to be seen.

Arsenal fans might be disappointed if it’s just Fofana that comes in, but he’s clearly a talented player that the club rate highly.

He’s scored 19 goals in 83 appearances for Lyon and has started this season in excellent form, netting twice in his last three games.