The Athletic’s football correspondent David Ornstein says he expects Arsenal to “resolve” their goalkeeping situation this week.
Arsenal are set to sell current back-up goalkeeper Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest and are trying to reach a deal to sign David Raya from Brentford as his replacement.
The Gunners saw a bid rejected by Brentford for the Spaniard, but Ornstein says he expects the club to come to an agreement with their fellow Londoners.
“I think their focus right now is trying to complete this deal for David Raya at Brentford with Matt Turner going to Nottingham Forest,” he told Hayters TV.
“My expectation right now is that they are going to move towards an agreement with Brentford for David Raya. They were a bit short of where they needed to be with their initial offer.
“Brentford, before Arsenal stepping forward, were quite clear in wanting £40m. Arsenal would want to go far lower than that and maybe they’ll meet somewhere in the middle.
“But it’s a move that both clubs want to make happen, so you sense then a compromise will be found. It probably depends on Turner exiting and Nottingham Forest being the club that wants to take him, and closing in on that deal.
“I expect that whole situation to have resolved itself by probably the start of the week.”
Arsenal have invested heavily already this summer, bringing in Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber for a combined £200m+.
Boss Mikel Arteta is currently without first-choice striker Gabriel Jesus due to injury, but Ornstein says he is unaware of any attempt for the Gunners to sign another forward player as it stands.
“The expectation is (Folarin) Balogun will leave, but it’s not done yet so let’s see what happens,” he explained.
“And they’ve got auxiliary options like Leandro Trossard, like Kai Havertz, who was brought in with the idea of being a sort of left-sided eight but he can of course play in different positions.
“It’s a really tricky situation. I’m not aware of Arsenal trying to sign a striker at this moment.
I’m not aware of a striker. You start to think to yourself, if Gabriel Jesus is only out for a few weeks do you just get by with what you have?
“Right at the start of the summer, or even coming into it, you were wondering whether they’d go for some back-up for Bukayo Saka because maybe they’re a bit slim in that position.
“Maybe there is scope for one more attacking option. They did look at Joao Felix if you remember last year as a loan option before he went to Chelsea.
“It doesn’t seem a particularly settled or happy situation at Atletico Madrid and numerous clubs are being linked with him.
“So no doubt Arsenal, like all clubs, are surveying the market for options and they’ll see how serious the Jesus problem is, whether they can cope in the meantime, or whether they need to do something.
“Also the evidence of the opening few matches of the season. We’re pre-empting things we don’t even know yet, maybe they’ll do really well and they’ll be able to get by until Jesus comes back.”
