Wenger '99% confident' on Arsenal deals
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the club was close to completing transfers.
|||Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the club was close to completing transfers on Friday, amid reports they are poised to sign Germany centre-back Shkodran Mustafi and Spanish striker Lucas Perez.
British press reports claim Mustafi, 24, will sign from Valencia for around 35 million pounds, with Perez, 27, set to cost around 17 million pounds from Deportivo La Coruna.
Both players will reportedly undergo medical examinations on Friday.
“We are working on the deals,” Wenger said. “We are not close enough to announce today that they will sign for us. Will we sign anybody before the end of the transfer window? I am 99 percent confident.”
Should both players complete their transfers, Arsenal's spending for the close season will be close to 100 million pounds.
They have already signed Swiss international Granit Xhaka from Borussia Moenchengladbach and young pair Rob Holding and Takuma Asano.
Wenger has come under pressure from the club's fans to bring in new players, with supporters chanting “Spend some money!” during last weekend's 0-0 draw at Leicester City.
But Wenger said he would not be influenced by the fans' demands.
“I'm happy when our supporters are happy, but my job is to make the right decisions,” the Frenchman told reporters at Arsenal's London Colney training centre.
“If that is exactly similar to the contract of the players and that maintains the supporters being happy, that is even better. I focus first on making the right decisions for the club.”
Commenting on the difficulty of signing players, Wenger added: “It was a strange transfer market. I expected it to be easier than ever, but it was more difficult than ever. Not a lot has happened.
“It looks like when you meet other clubs and you have (a player with) an English passport, you hit these prices which are very difficult to understand compared to the quality of the players.
“It looks like it will be frenetic for me in the last three days. Everybody has sat on their pounds until now. We know they will all splash out now. I expect the next three days to be very, very busy, so be on alert!”
With Mustafi set to arrive, Wenger hinted that 21-year-old centre-back Calum Chambers could be allowed to leave the club on loan.
Asked if Chambers's Arsenal future could be affected by Mustafi's arrival, Wenger replied: “Future? No. The fact that he could go out somewhere and play? Yes.”
Arsenal, who lost 4-3 at home to Liverpool on the season's opening day, visit Watford on Saturday.
AFP