Arsenal Agree €18m Fee, Player To Fly-In On Monday To Complete Move

With the January transfer in full swing, managers are strengthening their squads ahead of the second half of the season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Arsenal close in on the signing of Gabriel Paulista….

Arsenal appear to be closing in on the signing of Gabriel Paulista with reports today claiming that we’ve finally agreed an €18m fee and the defender will fly-in to London on Monday to complete the move.

Speculation all last week suggested that we were in negotiations to try and sign the Brazilian centre-back but were struggling to agree terms with his current club Villarreal, who were demanding the full value of his €20m (£15m) buy-out clause.

Arsene Wenger then confirmed at his press conference on Thursday that we were deep in talks with the La Liga outfit and he was prepared to pay whatever it took to get a deal agreed before the transfer window closed on February 2nd.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

“We are talking at the moment [over Gabriel]. Can we find an agreement or not? I don’t know. We are slowly progressing but there’s a chance,” the manager said.

“We are ready to pay the price we think is right for a good player, no matter what the price is. If we think it’s the right price we will pay.

“[The deal is] 50-50 at this moment. We respect the rules in England – when you buy a player who does not fulfil the criteria and needs a work permit, you go in front of a commission and they tell you yes or no. We will accept that.”

It appears those negotiations have now found a happy conclusion as the Metro are citing reports coming out of Spain that claim we’ve agreed an €18m (£13.4m) fee with Villarreal for the 24-year-old’s signature.

The newspaper states that Gabriel will fly over to London on Monday to undergo a medical and, assuming there are no complications, complete his move to the Emirates.

The main stumbling block is getting a work permit as Gabriel is yet to earn a single cap for Brazil, but Arsenal should be confident of winning an appeal and getting an ‘exceptional talent’ visa as he’s an established first team player in arguably the best league in the world.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news

If we do end up signing the Brazilian centre-back he’ll become our second signing this month after we concluded a deal for young midfielder Krystian Bielik earlier this week.

***update*** Villarreal have now confirmed that an agreement has been reached with Arsenal over the signing of Gabriel, with Joel Campbell heading in the opposite direction on loan.

Principio de acuerdo de traspaso con el @Arsenal por Gabriel, quien se despedirá hoy antes del partido.¡Mucha suerte! pic.twitter.com/mZkGrOgyan

— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) January 24, 2015