Arsenal Agree Deals To Sign Lucas Perez & Shkodran Mustafi For Over £50m

Arsenal have agreed deals to sign Deportivo striker Lucas Perez and Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi and expect both players to undergo a medical on Friday, Goal understands.

Gunners officials have been working throughout the summer in a bid to strengthen an injury-ravaged defence and limited forward line and an agreement has finally been reached to bring in two of La Liga’s top performers in 2015-16.

Perez, 27, scored 17 league goals last season and was scouted several times by Arsenal, who originally opted to bid for Jamie Vardy instead.

The Leicester striker subsequently rejected a move to the Emirates Stadium, signing a new contract with the Foxes and leaving Arsene Wenger to work on other targets.

An offer of €20 million (£17m) was accepted by Deportivo on Friday, €6m of which will go to Perez’s former club PAOK, and Arsenal have beaten both Everton and Valencia to the Spaniard’s sought-after signature.

Deportivo confirmed on Thursday night that Perez has been given permission to miss Friday’s match against Real Betis.

Mustafi will follow Perez to north London after Valencia accepted an offer of £35m for the Germany centre-back. Talks over a deal for Mustafi have been ongoing for almost three weeks, with the 24-year-old’s considerable price tag the only sticking point.

However, injuries to Per Mertesacker and Gabriel have forced Arsenal’s hand and Wenger will take his summer spending close to £100m following the signings of Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding, Takuma Asanoand Kelechi Nwakali.