Football

Chelsea close in on £30m Arsenal transfer target Gabriel Magalhaes


Chelsea are stealing a march on Arsenal in the race to sign Gabriel from Lille (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea have stolen a march on Arsenal in the race to sign Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes.

The Brazil youth international impressed against Frank Lampard’s side during the group stages of this season’s Champions League and is valued at around £30million by the Ligue 1 club.

Lampard has afforded regular opportunities to Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger and Fikayo Tomori this season, but has struggled to settle on a regular combination at the heart of his defence.

Chelsea were banned from making any new signings last summer but after their punishment was halved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport they have already made progress with rebuilding their squad ahead of next season.

Hakim Ziyech will join from Ajax, and Eurosport claim a deal for 22-year-old Gabriel is almost complete.

Arsenal had been heavily linked with the centre-half and had hoped their strong relationship with Lille following the signing of Nicolas Pepe would stand them in good stead.

Mikel Arteta was able to strengthen his defence in January with the loan signings of Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares. Arsenal have the option to make both deals permanent in the summer but the futures of Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos remain uncertain.

Mustafi’s form has improved markedly since Arteta’s appointment as Unai Emery’s permanent successor, but earlier this week admitted he was far from confident he would be offered a new deal.

‘I’ve played more regularly under Mikel Arteta, also in the Premier League. That has really helped me. I feel very good. I understand his style of football, how he likes to play, that really fits me,’ he told Sky in Germany.

‘The way he is at his age, that has really surprised me, I don’t know if after four years, I could be that serious and have a charisma like his to lead a team.

‘He is managing that very well. I feel that in this short amount of time I already learned some new things that help my game. ‘I can imagine continuing to play for him. But we still don’t know about the future. There are still many question marks.’

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