Alexandre Lacazette is close to finalising his €60m (£52.7m) move to Arsenal from Lyon, having completed his medical at the north London club’s training ground on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old striker, who has 11 France caps, is set to agree a five-year contract and, when the formalities are done, he will eclipse Mesut Özil as Arsenal’s most expensive signing. Özil joined from Real Madrid in 2013 for £42.5m.
Arsène Wenger has tracked Lacazette for some time and the Arsenal manager made an unsuccessful move for him last summer, after which the player agreed fresh terms at Lyon until 2019.
But there was the sense that he would give it one more year at his boyhood club before he considered a move to one of Europe’s higher-profile leagues and he and the Lyon president, Jean-Michel Aulas, believe the time is now right.
Lacazette had looked set to join Atlético Madrid only for the Spanish club to be placed under a transfer embargo until January 2018. According to Aulas, Atlético were prepared to pay €65m for Lacazette and so Arsenal look to have got him for slightly less.
The forward was outstanding for Lyon last season, scoring 37 times in 45 matches in all competitions, 28 of those goals coming in Ligue 1. The haul meant that he reached 100 league goals for his boyhood club from 203 games.
Wenger will be delighted to conclude the deal, particularly as he fights to keep his star player, Alexis Sánchez, from the clutches of Manchester City. He has signed the left-back Sead Kolasinac from Schalke on a free transfer.