As reported earlier by the Telegraph, Arsenal are close to signing the Lille central defender Gabriel Magalhaes for a fee of £22.6million. A five-year deal was finally agreed with the 22-year-old on Wednesday. Gabriel had offers from several other clubs, including Napoli, Everton and MU. Lille president Gerard Lopez had signalled that the Under-20 international would leave the French club this summer. Negotiations between Arsenal and Lille were originally managed by the former head of football Raul Sanllehi, who left the club at the weekend. The pursuit of Gabriel has taken place despite Arsenal having signed Pablo Mari on a permanent deal and with teenage defender William Saliba returning to the club after a season-long loan deal back at St Etienne.#Gabriel (@losclive defender) is closer to @Arsenal: if @ManUtd will not raise, the player will accept #gunners offer @SkySports @SkySportsPL
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) August 21, 2020