Arsenal Transfer News: Club Confirms Imminent Midfielder Transfer

With the winter transfer window now open for business, managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads ahead of the second half of the season. Today, Arsenal close in on the signing of Mohamed Elneny….

Arsenal appear to be closing in on their first signing of the January transfer window after FC Basel confirmed that midfielder Mohamed Elneny is on the verge of leaving the club.

Elneny has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks with the Mirror reporting last week that the midfielder had undergone a medical after agreeing terms over a four-and-a-half year contract worth £60,000-a-week.

ESPN claim that Arsenal have also agreed a fee worth in the region of £7m with FC Basel for the 23-year-old’s services and it looks like the deal is now on the verge of being completed, judging by the Swiss outfit’s latest tweet.

Having already confirmed on their official website that Elneny wasn’t present at training on Tuesday after the player’s returned from their festive holidays, Basel then tweeted to say that the player has been given permission to miss training in order to sort out a transfer away from the club.

We can confirm that #Elneny is currently not in training to sort out a potential transfer. That’s all we can say at the moment. #FCBasel

— FC Basel 1893 EN (@FC_Basel_en) January 5, 2016

No further details were given but considering the amount of speculation surrounding his proposed move to Arsenal, I think it’s fair to say that a move to North London now looks to be on the cards.

Boss Arsene Wenger has already publicly admitted he needs to strengthen in the middle of the park this month after losing several key players to injury throughout the first half of the season.

Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky are yet to feature this season while Mikel Arteta has also seen his campaign plagued by calf problems. To make matters worse, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin have been ruled out until late February with serious knee injuries leaving the boss with limited options in midfield.

Therefore, Elneny’s imminent arrival will come as a welcome boost as we head into the second half of the season with Arsenal sitting proudly at the top of the Premier League table.

With the club in such an excellent position to really mount a serious title bid, it is vital that we bring another body in and it appears Elneny is the man Wenger has decided to go for.

We’ll have to await official confirmation of the deal but I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear something before the end of the week.