Arsenal are ready to spend £100m on Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos after securing the free transfer signing of Willian, according to The Sun.
Mikel Arteta knows he needs to overhaul the squad he inherited from Unai Emery this summer after Arsenal finished way down in eighth place in the Premier League last season – their worst result in over 25 years.
It’s been widely reported that Willian is set to join Arsenal on a free transfer after running down his contract at Chelsea and The Sun says the Brazilian is ‘almost in the bag’ after reportedly agreeing terms over a three-year contract worth £100,000-a-week.
Arteta is now ready to turn his attention to strengthening his midfield options as the Gunners were weak in that area last season and The Sun claims Arsenal are pushing ahead with a move to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey.
The 27-year-old has been a key player under Diego Simeone in recent years but the newspaper says he’s keen on a move to the Emirates after nine years in Spain and Atletico are demanding the full value of his £45m release clause.
Arsenal are also hoping to get another deal agreed for Ceballos after he impressed during the final stages of the 2019/20 campaign having spent last season on loan from Real Madrid.
It’s believed Arsenal favour another loan with the option to buy in 12 months time but The Sun says Madrid want to cash-in this summer and are demanding £30m for the 24-year-old’s signature.
Arteta also needs to further strengthen his defensive options and the report claims Arsenal are keen on signing Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes after watching him develop into one of the best young defenders in France.
The 22-year-old is being tracked by the likes of Everton and Napoli but The Sun says Gabriel wants to join Arsenal in order to link-up with former team-mate Nicolas Pepe and Lille will do business at around £25m.
If these valuations are accurate, it means Arsenal are going to need to spend around £100m to sign Gabriel, Ceballos and Partey this summer so Arteta is going to have to sell in order to generate the required funds.
Despite securing Europa League football with the FA Cup win over Chelsea, money is still tight at the Emirates so Arteta is ready to sell a number of his squad players in order to boost his transfer kitty.
The Sun says Arsenal are hoping to raise £35m from the sale of Matteo Guendouzi, £25m from Ainsley Maitland-Niles, at least £26m from Lucas Torreira while Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis have also been made available for transfer.
Rob Holding could also be sold if a deal for Gabriel can be agreed while Arsenal are also looking to offload Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mohamed Elneny again to further balance the books this summer.
It’s going to be a hectic few weeks as Arteta looks to reshape his squad but I think it would be excellent business if Arsenal could replace the likes of Mustafi, Sokratis, Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles, Torreira and Mkhitaryan with Gabriel, Partey, Ceballos and Willian.
