🔴⚪ARSENAL TRANSFER UPDATE✅ Arsenal ‘decide’ on new striker as £86m ‘verbal agreement’ struck with European club

Arsenal have reportedly agreed a deal to sign a new striker with Mikel Arteta needing to land a new frontman.

Arsenal are reportedly zeroing in on a new striker with Mikel Arteta determined to add a new frontman this summer. There have been relentless calls for the Gunners to land a new striker over the last 18 months, but Arteta has resisted, and relied on Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Eddie Nketiah.

Nketiah may make way this season, and Arsenal are likely to push ahead with a striker signing, albeit it’s likely they will need to sell a number of players to ensure they stay within Profit and Sustainability rules. Victor Osimhen may be just out of reach, although reports have claimed Arsenal have already agreed to pay big money to land another European frontman.

According to Leonino, via The Standard, Arsenal have agreed to pay £86million for Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres. The former Coventry City star has only been with Sporting for one season, but he has scored a mightily impressive 29 goals in 33 league appearances.

The report claims an agreement has already been reached in principle, but a formal agreement will still need to be found.

Asked in the spring about his future and a possible return to England, Gyokeres said: “It was a good day and we will definitely celebrate,” he said. “Let’s see what will happen – it’s just beginning. It’s my first title. I explain the celebration at the end of the season, after the league and cup. Let’s try to win everything.

“Rúben Amorim is a great coach, I wouldn’t mind if he continued (laughs). I had many coaches, but Rúben Amorim brought me here – it was very important in my career. Thank you Sportinguistas, see you soon. It’s football, I can’t promise anything, I have a contract and I won’t be sad if I stay, I’m very happy, but we’ll see what happens. We can’t predict much, but let’s see what next year will be like, we still have games this season.”

The 25-year-old frontman helped Sporting win the Portuguese top flight last season, but with Sporting having only paid around £18million for the striker last summer, they could get the chance to make a huge profit this summer. Arsenal could provide that profit, but such a big fee would put pressure on them to sanction a number of sales, given they also want to sign a winger and a left-sided defender this summer.

Emile Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Kieran Tierney and Jakub Kiwior are all reportedly up for sale this summer, and those players should bring in a combined windfall of somewhere in the region of £100million. But having spent more than £200million last summer, and with another large figure likely to be spent this summer, it remains to be seen whether that will be enough.

Mikel Arteta on summer

“We have adapted to that, and we still want to deliver what we want in the transfer window to have a much more competitive team, and improve the squad in every area that we can.”

He added: “We know the demands in the league and the competition we are facing,” Arteta continued. “So all the work we’re doing is to find ways to get better and to see where the margins can be for our improvement. That pain [from last season] is still there and I think it has to remain there, but after analysing the whole season with all the staff, the team has done a lot and probably in any other context we would have won the Premier League and that’s a big jump. But it’s not enough.”