Deal imminent : Arsenal choose Gabriel Jesus over Super Eagles striker

Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus is poised to become a player of Arsenal, with the two Premier League rivals reaching a verbal club-to-club agreement on Friday for the Brazil national teamer, according to transfer market guru Fabrizio Romano.

The Emirates Stadium outfit are in the market for a striker following the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the winter transfer market and Alexandre Lacazette, who agreed a deal with Lyon this month.

The Athletic (subscription required) previously reported that several attackers were on manager Mikel Arteta's shortlist to bolster the striking department namely Jesus, Tammy Abraham, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Victor Osimhen, Lautaro Martinez and Gianluca Scamacca.

Jesus has always been the main priority of the powers that be at Arsenal and it is believed that their Plan B was to switch to other targets including Osimhen in the event they fail to land the Brazilian.

Excluding performance-related add-ons, Manchester City will pocket 45 million pounds in transfer fee from the imminent deal taking Jesus to Arsenal.

Napoli's 86 million pounds (almost double the price of Jesus) valuation of Osimhen was always going to be a stumbling block in Arsenal's attempts to sign the Nigerian.

With Eddie Nketiah recently penning a new long-term deal, it remains to be seen whether or not Arsenal will
sign an out-and-out centre forward before the transfer window closes for business.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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