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Deal imminent: Arsenal close-in on Serie A star after player holds talks at London Colney

By on May 25, 2018

According to Football London, Arsenal are on the verge of completing their first summer signing after holding positive talks with Stephan Lichtsteiner at London Colney today.

New boss Unai Emery is wasting no time in reshaping his squad and a right-back is desperately needed as we had very little back-up for Hector Bellerin last season.

Mathieu Debuchy barely played before joining Saint-Etienne in January so Calum Chambers and Ainsley Maitland-Niles were occasionally called upon to fill-in when Bellerin didn’t play – which wasn’t often as he made 47 appearances last term.

Football London are one of several media outlets who’re reporting that Arsenal are now close to signing Lichtsteiner on a free transfer when his contract with Juventus expires at the end of June.

The report says Lichtsteiner held positive talks with Arsenal chiefs at London Colney on Friday afternoon and the club are confident of fending off severe competition to land the Switzerland international.

Football London says further negotiations will take place over the weekend and a deal is ‘imminent’ so it looks like we’re closing-in on our first signing of the summer transfer window.

Lichtsteiner has been linked with Arsenal several times in the past but I must say this transfer is still a bit of a surprise as there has been very little speculation in recent months.

He’s 34 so the right-back is obviously just a short-term solution to offer us more depth behind Bellerin next season but he’ll also bring a huge amount of experience and a real winning mentality to the squad.

Lichtsteiner has won numerous trophies during his seven years at Juventus and played over 300 times for the Turin giants while he’s expected to captain Switzerland at this summers World Cup.