Arsenal are close to signing both striker Lucas Perez and centre-back Shkodran Mustafi in deals that British media reported will total more than £50 million.

The Guardian and Telegraph reported on Thursday that the Gunners have finally reached an agreement with Valencia to pay £35 million for Mustafi after drawn-out talks over the Germany defender, while a source told ESPN FC that the club was in advanced talks over Perez, the Deportivo La Coruna forward, in a £17 million deal.

And on Thursday night Deportivo announced that Perez had been withdrawn from their squad for the trip to face Real Betis in La Liga on Friday night.

The club said in a statement: "The striker Lucas Perez will not fly to Seville, with permission of the club."

Local newspaper La Voz De Galicia reported Arsenal agreed to meet the €20 million (£17.1m) buy-out clause in Perez's contract, and that the move was hours away from completion. Both players still need to undergo medicals, which could take place in London on Friday.

The two signings would address Arsenal's biggest remaining needs in this transfer window, with Arsene Wenger already having spent £30m on midfielder Granit Xhaka while also bringing in young defender Rob Holding and forward Takuma Asano.

The talks for Mustafi have been going on for more than a week as the clubs haggled over his transfer fee, but a breakthrough seemed to come shortly after Wenger had found a striker in Perez for a relatively low price.

At £35 million, Mustafi would be more than twice as expensive as any other defender Wenger has bought in his 20-year tenure.

Perez only emerged as a target for the Gunners on Thursday as Wenger swooped in to hijack an attempt by Everton to sign the striker, who netted 17 goals in La Liga last season.

While the 27-year-old Spaniard, who has never been capped by the national team and has never played in the Champions League, is the not big-name striker many fans had hoped for, he should add another option to Olivier Giroud up front for Wenger.

If both deals are completed, it would take Arsenal's summer spending close to the £100 million mark and would likely complete Wenger's transfer business this summer.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by Mattias Karen

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