Arsenal are set to confirm the signing of Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez and are close to reaching an agreement to sign Valencia's German centre back, Shkodran Mustafi.
Perez scored an impressive 17 goals last season for the La Liga side and was attracting interest from Premier League club Everton but Arsenal came in late and ensured they did enough in a short amount of time to ensure he moves to North London. The 27-year-old has a €20m (£17.1m) release clause in his contract which the Gunners activated.
Mustafi, meanwhile, has been linked with Arsenal over the past few weeks but will now most definitely join the club in a deal rumoured to be north of £35 million. The 24-year-old has been training in isolation at Valencia but is set to join compatriots Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Serge Gnabry at London Colney.
Arsenal have already signed Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding, Takuma Asano and Kelechi Nwakali this summer and with these two more additions, it takes their spending to over £100m since the beginning of last season.
Arsenal fans have been vocal as always this summer often criticising their manager for not spending money on players having seen Manchester United, Chelsea and even Liverpool spend more than the North Londoners this window but the Frenchman insisted that he was never shy about spending money – with the caveat being spending it on the right player.
He said: "If we find the right player we will not be reluctant to spend big.
"If I just bought someone for £45m will I have done well?"
He added: "I do not understand why people say I am reluctant.
"Spending the money itself is not a quality. Spending it to buy the right, top-quality player is the quality."
Also Read: English top-flight spending could top one billion pounds.
It remains to be seen whether Arsenal will get at least one of these two signings done by 11am on Friday morning for them to be eligible for the Watford away game but the Gunners are likely to start Olivier Giroud up front and Laurent Koscielny at the back. The French duo made their first appearance of the season against Leicester last weekend but the former of two came off the bench.
With injuries to Mertesacker and Gabriel, Arsenal were in dire need of an experienced centre-back who could slot right into the first team and Mustafi is one such player. The German international will hope he can cement his place in the first team alongside the 30-year-old Koscielny and new signing Rob Holding.
