Arsenal have deal in place to sign £30m-rated international star

The January transfer window is drawing to a close so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Arsenal have a deal in place to sign Mykola Matviyenko….

Arsenal have got a deal in place to sign Mykola Matviyenko but are yet to decide whether to land the Shakhtar Donetsk defender or push ahead with a move for Flamengo star Pablo Mari, according to Zbrina via The Sun.

Mikel Arteta is in the market for reinforcements this month as he looks to revamp the squad he inherited from Unai Emery and he’s on the look-out for a central defender after Calum Chambers was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury.

To make matters worse, Shkodran Mustafi was stretchered off with an ankle injury during Arsenal’s FA Cup victory over Bournemouth on Monday night so we desperately need to bring in another centre-back before the window slams shut on Friday night.

Matviyenko emerged as a target last week when the players agent was quoted by Ukrainian media as saying Arsenal were in talks to sign the 23-year-old and Zbrina then reported that we’d submitted an offer worth £26.5m to sign the Ukrainian international on an initial loan with an obligation to buy in the summer.

That bid came close to meeting Shakhtar’s valuation – which Sky Sports say is £30m – and Ukrainian outlet Zbrina, via The Sun, claim today that Arsenal now have a deal in place to sign Matviyenko this week.

However, the report says we’re holding off completing the proposed transfer as Arsenal chiefs are still deciding whether to close-out the deal for Matviyenko or opt to sign Flamengo centre-back Pablo Mari instead.

Mari flew in to London Heathrow Airport with Arsenal technical director Edu on Saturday to undergo a medical but we’re still trying to thrash out a deal with Flamengo for the 26-year-old defender.

If these reports coming out of Ukraine are accurate, it looks like Arsenal have lined-up a deal for Matviyenko as a fall-back in-case we can’t agree terms with Flamengo to sign Mari.

The Brazilian club have accused Arsenal of trying to change the terms of a deal at the last minute as we reportedly only want to sign Mari on an initial loan with an option to make it permanent in the summer but Flamengo want a permanent sale this month.

We’ll have to wait and see how things progress over the coming days but it looks like either Mari or Matviyenko will join Arsenal before the transfer window closes on Friday night.