Gabriel Magalhaes ‘wants Arsenal transfer after being wowed by talks with club but Man Utd won’t give up chase’

LILLE centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes wants to move to Arsenal despite Manchester United chasing him, according to reports.

The Brazilian defender looks almost certain to leave the Ligue 1 side this summer and is said to have been particularly impressed by talks with the Gunners earlier this week.

1

Mikel Arteta is keen on bringing a defender in to shore up his leaky back line.

And he looks set to land one in the coming weeks in the shape of the £27million rated 22-year-old, according to .

However, United will reportedly not give up on their pursuit with a deal to take him to Old Trafford said to be close yesterday.

ARSENAL NEWS LIVE: Click here for the latest Gunners news

Magalhaes' scintillating form in France has drawn admiring glances from across Europe, with Everton and Napoli also linked.

And he is almost certain to leave Lille this summer as a result, with the Ligue 1 club's owner Gerard Lopez admitting as much.

He recently told L'Equipe: "With Gabriel, we are talking and we’ve given him an exit pass. He will choose his club this week.”

The 6ft 3in defender made 34 appearances in the curtailed French 2019-20 season - including every minute of his side's Champions League campaign.

Arsenal's transfer business is under intense scrutiny after the club were hammered from all angles for making 55 members of staff redundant yesterday.

Most read in Football

back on the box

Legendary UK soap axed 31 years ago finally returns to TV screens

ALL OVER

Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri & Andrew Le Page SPLIT as Strictly curse strikes again

BABY JOY

Corrie's Lucy Fallon gives birth to second child with footballer boyfriend Ryan

'A RELIEF'

Emotional Kate confirms for first time she's in remission after cancer battle

Mikel Arteta and most of his players took a 12.5 per cent pay cut in April which has since been reduced to five per cent after they qualified for Europe.

And the Gunners stars and club legend Ian Wright are said to be fuming with the decision.

The Arsenal hierarchy who work under multi-billionaire owner Stan Kroenke will see the pressure ramped up after the news of Willian's three-year £100,000-a-week transfer.