Arsenal are hoping to quickly wrap up the sale of midfielder Emile Smith Rowe to Fulham so that they can sign another midfielder without any further delay.<\/p>\n
The signing of defender Riccardo Calafiori from Bologna has alredy been done, on top of David Raya\u2019s permanent move to the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
However, more transfer business is expected at Arsenal as manager Mikel Arteta is gearing to shape up his squad for the new season, with the departure of midfielder Smith Rowe this summer to Fulham being a priority.<\/p>\n
According to Football Transfers<\/em>, the Gunners are being confronted with an obstacle in Smith Rowe\u2019s impending move to Fulham which needs to be resolved quickly, failing which they would not be able to complete the signing of Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino, as Smith Rowe needs to exit the club first in order to facilitate the former\u2019s entry.<\/p>\n The report states that London neighbours Fulham have offered \u00a335 million for the midfielder, with \u00a327m of this upfront and a further \u00a38m in add-ons. However Arsenal believe that the add-ons being offered are unlikely to be achieved.<\/p>\n Which leaves Arteta and his team now working towards finding a solution to this problem as they want the transfer to progress smoothly, as Real Sociedad are meanwhile hoping that other clubs join the race to sign their central midfielder so that it could help push up the transfer fee.<\/p>\n Smith Rowe is edging closer to an exit from the club with Fulham set to be his next destination, although there is still work to be done from the Premier League side to work out a deal for Merino, despite the report stating that the Gunners have agreed personal terms with the Spanish midfielder.<\/p>\n This would be the ideal move for Arteta as he would be losing a player who has hardly played football in the last two seasons and Merino would arrive as Declan Rice\u2019s midfield partner to offer a new dimension to the midfield.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"