Reports are suggesting Arsenal are about to shell out around £27m (€30m) on Lille defender Gabriel Magalhães as speculation persists between the French side and Rangers star Alfredo Morelos.
Various reports claim the talented Brazilian defender will sign a five-year deal with the Gunners as they look to strengthen their side ahead of the new campaign [Guardian].
With Lille president Gerard Lopez suggesting the Ligue 1 side may return for Rangers’ Morelos in this transfer window, attention will now turn to what the club does with the money.
Rangers were said to have turned down up to four bids for their Colombian striker with the last reportedly coming in at £16.25m [Daily Mail].
However, despite interest being said to have cooled [BBC Sport] Lopez kept the door open for a return for Morelos after admitting to talkSPORT the club are interested in the striker.
“We have (bid £16m). He’s obviously a good player,” said Lopez.
“We had a primary target who was Jonathan David and who we got. He’s locked into a certain system with a number of players already around him.
“We obviously are entering a transfer window that is longer than usual.
“The key thing for us is to analyse how what we have already comes together and that is something the coach is looking at before we make any other additions.
“He’s a great player, we’ve bid for him and we like him but at this stage we are in a situation where we want to understand… we haven’t had time to prepare at all. It’s been a really odd preparation.
“We know we have a lot of talent. We have lots of offensive material and we’ve hit the pause button at this stage.
“We will wait it out a couple of weeks and see where we are. Then make a final decision on if we need someone else in the transfer market.”
Lille have also been hamstrung by an FFP agreement which means they cannot shell out more than they rake in on transfer fees if they want to register players to play in Europe.
Receiving £27m for Gabriel would in turn free Lille up to potentially shell out for Rangers striker Morelos.
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard also took aim at Morelos after dropping the Colombian from the Rangers squad in the 2-0 win over Kilmarnock.
Gerrard has previously used the press to call Morelos’ attitude out amid the interest but with no-one meeting Rangers’ valuation there appears to be a growing frustration from all parties.
“I only want players who are hungry for the shirt,” said Gerrard [BBC Sport].
“If I see people who are not focused or who have taken their eye off the ball and not really, really hungry to get this football club results, I have to make easy decisions and Alfredo made it easy for me this week.”
Rangers striker Morelos joined the club from HJK Helsinki for a fee of £1m back in June 2017 and has gone on to hit 79 goals for the club.
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