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[Video] ‘We’ve bought two players’ Wenger confirms £52m double deal
Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Arsenal have ‘bought two players’ after Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez completed their medicals but the deals may not be announced until Tuesday.
The boss has been scouring the market trying to buy a new centre-back and striker in recent weeks but we finally found a breakthrough in negotiations towards the end of last week for Mustafi and Perez.
Mustafi emerged as our prime defensive target earlier in the summer and we’ve been trying to get a fee agreed with Valencia for some time, however, the Telegraph claim that a deal worth up to £35m was finally agreed on Thursday night.
The 24-year-old arrived in the UK on Friday and completed his medical that afternoon with the newspaper saying the German international has agreed terms over a five-year contract.
Perez kind of came out of nowhere as news broke on Wednesday night that we’d hijacked Everton’s proposed move for the striker and the Mirror claim that we agreed to meet the 27-year-old’s £17m buyout clause.
The newspaper says the striker flew-in to north London on Thursday night and underwent his medical on Friday at London Colney after agreeing terms over a four-year deal.
Wenger has now confirmed that Arsenal have ‘bought two players’ but he says that the paperwork is still being completed so the deals may not be announced until Tuesday.
Interestingly, Arsene also suggests that Arsenal’s business is done and there won’t be any last minute ‘madness’ in the window.
You can watch the video below and skip to around 2:26 where Wenger confirms the arrivals of Mustafi and Perez:
So the deals are all but done with just paperwork left before they are officially Arsenal players. I think Mustafi will turn out to be an excellent signing as he’s an international centre-back who has plenty of experience for his age.
Player ratings from Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Watford
Perez is more of a calculated gamble but having scored 19 goals and 11 assists for a poor Deportivo La Coruna side last season, he certainly has the potential to score goals in a side with Alexis and Ozil supplying him.