Gabriel Magalhaes is edging closer to a move to Arsenal with Lille having sent an ultimatum to Manchester United to raise their offer or forget about signing the defender, it has been claimed.
Arsenal were thought to be on the cusp of a £22million deal for the 22-year-old earlier this week.
But Premier League rivals United entered late talks for the Brazilian centre-half to try and thwart the north London club.
United entered discussions with Gabriel’s representatives on Thursday despite the player having reportedly agreed terms over a switch to Arsenal.
The Red Devils asked Gabriel to delay his decision with both Arsenal and Napoli having met his asking price.
Lille want £22m up front with the fee potentially rising to an eventual £27m due to add-ons.
But despite United trying to make a late attempt to beat Arsenal to the centre-back, Sky Sport’s Mario Giunta insists the Gunners remain in pole position.
He tweeted on Friday evening: “Gabriel closer to Arsenal! If United doesn’t raise in the next few hours, he’ll be a Gunners player! @SkySport #afc #transfer.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is looking to bring Gabriel to the Emirates as he seeks to restructure his back-line.
William Saliba, signed last summer from Saint-Etienne where he has just spent the season out on loan, will also freshen up his options.
If Gabriel joins Arsenal then the Spanish coach will be expected to move on a few of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding.
Alongside Saliba, David Luiz has penned a new one-year deal and will likely act as an experienced back-up to the right-sided Gabriel.
And Pablo Mari has also joined Arsenal from Flamengo permanently after a six-month loan spell in a deal which in total has cost the club around £14m.
Gabriel almost joined Everton earlier this year and even underwent a medical before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
And Arsenal have pounced to try and snap up the South American, who Lille president Gerard Lopez admitted is attracted by a move to the English capital.
Lopez told talkSPORT: “I think he’s narrowed it down. I think it’s fair to say that Arsenal are a high interest to him, Napoli is a high interest to him.
“We’ve given him plenty of time to make up his mind. We’ve always said, ‘look if we have an agreement with two clubs or three clubs and the agreements are the same then we are not going to create a bidding competition’.
“It’s always fair. We always say ‘whenever we have the number that we want you are free to choose’.
“And that choice, I don’t think I’m giving up too much if I tell you that that choice is probably today or tomorrow.
“I’m unable to tell you what that choice is. We’ve given him some recommendations but we don’t like to talk about it in public because we don’t want people to feel bad.
“We’ve talked about where he should go but at the end of the day he and his environment make a choice and we support that.”
Earlier this week, meanwhile Lille team-mate and former Southampton centre-back Jose Fonte said of Gabriel to the same radio station: “The club has allowed him to speak with other clubs and he’s is in the process of moving, to be quite honest.
“It’s just about him choosing which club, which is a great position to be in.
“He just needs to choose where he wants to go, and they’re all good clubs, so that’s fantastic.
“I’m happy for him, I’m very, very happy for him. He’s a great player.
“Everybody’s dream is to play in the Premier League and he’s been asking me questions about the Premier League and asking questions about clubs in the Premier League, so I tried to give him the best and honest opinion.
“Hopefully he’ll make his decision and he’ll be very successful, I have no doubt about it.”