Arsenal have an agreement in place to sign Youri Tielemans which would take their summer spending close to £150million, according to reports.
The Gunners have already splashed the cash this summer, beginning with the relatively small-fry signing of Marquinhos for £3m. The Brazilian was followed to North London by Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko as Mikel Arteta's side aim to achieve a top-four push.
Earlier in the window, manager Arteta refused to be drawn on Belgian international Tielemans. However, according to fresh reports, the Leicester man could be on the verge of a move to the capital.
There had been suggestions of a swap deal involving Tielemans and Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno. Leicester are reportedly interested in the German international, who is effectively third choice at the Emirates, but Leno's preference for a London move makes Fulham the more likely destination.
Still, that doesn't mean Tielemans is staying put. The former Monaco man only has a year left on his contract and, according to CBS and GiveMeSport, has agreed terms with Arsenal.
Despite this, Arsenal are yet to make an opening bid to test Leicester's resolve. Indeed, no club has made an offer to the Foxes, according to chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.
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At the start of July, Arteta was quizzed on the subject of Tielemans, who could be available for £30m or less, based on reports from earlier in the summer. While he refused to address the Belgian specifically, there were suggestions the Gunners had more work to do in the market.
"We never talk about players that are not ours as I said before," the manager said. "We can improve the team still in the market, we are going to try and do it but we are not going to go into any specific names. There are more things that we would like to do if we can. Obviously, the market will dictate what we can do but, so far, we are happy with what we’ve done."
Since that interview, Arsenal completed their move for Zinchenko for an initial £30m. The Ukrainian is an option for the club in midfield as well as defence, but it is unclear whether that would stop them moving for another option in the centre of the park.
Arsenal are involved in European competition again this season, having qualified for the group stages of the Europa League, and may feel they need a bigger squad in order to compete on multiple fronts. After this weekend's Emirates Cup clash with Sevilla, they will begin their league season against Crystal Palace next Friday before getting their continental campaign underway in September.
