ARSENAL are close to securing the long-awaited signing of Viktor Gyokeres.
The Gunners have been desperate for a centre-forward and now appear set to get their man.
Gunners’ sporting director Andrea Berta flew to Portugal for talks at the end of last week to push the deal through, according to CNN Portugal.
SunSport revealed that Sporting feared Gyokeres would follow through on a reported threat to go on strike this week.
And the striker has now been given extended leave from pre-season as talks intensify.
However, Sporting are still not willing to buckle on their £68.9m (€80m) asking price.
Currently, Arsenal have indicated they are prepared to pay £56m up front and £8.6m in add-ons, which is a total of £64.6m.
But it seems certain that eventually, the Londoners will end up paying the £68.9m which Sporting want for a player they signed for just £20m from Coventry two years ago.
Ideally, Arteta would like Gyokeres at the club before Arsenal head to Singapore for their pre-season tour on July 19.
There have also been reports that Gyokeres is ready to pay a portion of his own transfer fee to push through the move.
Record claim that Gyokeres is willing to pay £1.7m (€2m) to meet Sporting’s demands.
Gyokeres had been heavily linked with Man Utd after a successful spell playing under Ruben Amorim when he was manager of the Portuguese champions.
But the Swede is said to have made clear that he is now only interested in a move to Arsenal.
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