Arsenal transfer news: Nabil Fekir and Dries Mertens on Gunners wishlist

Arsenal are to “step up their interest” in £50m Lyon winger Nabil Fekir, reports The Sun, as the Gunners prepare for life without Arsene Wenger.

With the Arsenal manager in the final few weeks of his tenure at the Emirates, the board are to make a move for the 24-year-old Fekir having checked him out on a number of previous occasions. The Sun claims that the Gunners have been on the tail of the France international for three years but Wenger’s dithering has cost them any chance of landing their man.

But with a new manager soon to be unveiled, Arsenal want to welcome him with a few new faces, and Fekir is top of their wishlist. Rated at £50m, the Lyon-born Fekir “can operate on the right wing or as an attacking midfielder, as well as up front”, and the Sun predicts he will shine for his country in next month’s World Cup.

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The paper says that his agent has previously stated that Fekir hopes “to join one of Europe’s top ten clubs in the near future”, or failing that then perhaps Arsenal.

Fekir has been in red-hot form this season for Lyon, and with the French club enjoying a good business relationship with Arsenal having sold them Alexandre Lacazette last year for £52m, it looks likely that Lyon will again “cash in” by selling another of their prized assets.

Might there be a similar situation looming at Napoli, wonders Italian outlet Calciomercato.

They report that the club chairman, Aurelio De Laurentiis, is growing increasingly anxious that they might not be able to persuade Dries Mertens to pen a new deal. The Belgium international’s current deal expires in 2020 and try as they might Napoli have failed to reach an agreement.

That’s because he’s apparently aware of the interest of Arsenal and Manchester United, who consider his £25m release clause a bargain, and the striker will make a decision this month before jetting to Russia to take on England in the World Cup.