Deal ‘agreed’ with Arsenal to smash transfer record - Fabrizio Romano

Arsenal will smash their own transfer record with regards to sales within the next 48 hours after Fabrizio Romano confirmed a deal has been verbally agreed.

Arsenal have positioned themselves as the dominant force in England thanks in large part to their immense hit-rate in the transfer market.

But while the vast majority of the signings throughout the 2020s have been successes, the club remain curiously unable to generate big fees when cashing in.

To date, their most lucrative sale remains Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s £35m switch to Liverpool all the way back in 2017.

But according to transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, that record is about to fall, with Gabriel Martinelli heading to Saudi Arabia by way of Al-Hilal.

Reporting on his YouTube channel early on Wednesday morning, Romano stated: “More contacts tonight to sign Ollie Watkins as new striker and Gabriel Martinelli as new winger. The Martinelli deal is very close, very, very close.

“So the expectation is for Al-Hilal to complete the agreement for Martinelli within 24 or a maximum of 48 hours.

“Because the agreement between the clubs with Arsenal is almost done, around €65m total package.

“Working now on player-club agreement with Martinelli, but the expectation is to get the deal done.”

Romano subsequently provided a further update on X, and revealed a club-to-club agreement has been struck.

Arsenal verbally agree Gabriel Martinelli sale

He declared: ‘Gabriel Martinelli’s agent are in direct contact with Al Hilal again to close the agreement on personal terms and seal the move.

‘Arsenal are ready to authorise Gabriel [Martinelli] for medical after package over €65m verbally agreed with Al Hilal.’

And according to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, the signs all now point to Martinelli saying yes to Al-Hilal.

He wrote on X: ‘There is a feeling Martinelli is ready to say yes to Al Hilal.’

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€65m currently equates to £55.6m at current exchange rate, meaning Arsenal will surpass their old record by over £20m.

Martinelli’s departure does raise a question about what happens on the left wing. While Christos Tzolis has arrived, he is viewed as the direct successor to Leandro Trossard who was sold to Besiktas.

The Gunners have tried to sign a superstar-calibre left winger in the summer transfer window, though Chelsea hijacked their move for Morgan Rogers and Vinicius Junior penned fresh terms with Real Madrid.

Interest in Bradley Barcola is no secret, though if he does leave PSG in the coming days, it’ll be to Anfield and not the Emirates.

With Eberechi Eze capable of competing with Tzolis on the left, Arsenal may choose to hold off on signing another left winger in this window and put all their eggs in Julian Alvarez’s basket…

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