Arsenal Inches Closer To Napoli In Race For Gabriel Magalhaes

Arsenal F.C. needs defenders, and it appears the Gunners have gotten a big boost. Lille OSC has accepted a €30 million ($35 million) bid from Arsenal for Gabriel Magalhaes. The number of teams interested in the Brazilian seems to have waned, with Manchester United switching to another target.

With Lille accepting the offer of the Gunners, Magalhaes may end up choosing between Arsenal and S.S.C. Napoli. United would have been another interesting club in the mix, but Le 10 Sport revealed that the Red Devils have switched their focus. They are now working on a deal with Monaco for Benoit Badiashile.

Another club that was also interested in Magalhaes was Everton. Unfortunately, their $23 million pitch was recently rejected by Les Douges.

For Napoli, Magalhaes could be reunited with former teammate Victor Osimhen if they are successful. Osimhen was signed last summer for $71 million.

But when it comes to chasing players, Arsenal has curiously had the upper hand over Napoli. The Gunners were able to beat Gli Azzurri in the past for Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Nicolas Pepe.

However, Arsenal needs to offload some players first before a better picture of their targets can be seen. The Gunners are expected to offer players like Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding to clubs who may be interested. Even Shkodran Mustafi may be moved if Arteta can bring in young defenders to the mix.

Hence, the focus now shifts to Magalhaes. Lille president Gerard Lopez said they would not stand in the way and that it all depends on which path the Brazilian chooses to follow, BBC reported.

"We are there now, so we told him: 'Eventually you have to make a decision but we're not pressing you.' I think he will make it this week, or next week at the latest. He is leaving, we've given the OK for that," Lopez said.

As mentioned in a previous report, one player linked to Magalhaes' decision could be Kalidou Koulibaly.

The 29-year-old has been linked to moving to Manchester City, although the asking price of Gli Azzurri remains the same. The only way they will let Koulibaly go is if the $91 million price tag is met.