Arsenal have had a €30million bid accepted by Lille for Gabriel Magalhaes with the Brazilian defender now set to choose between a move to the Gunners or Napoli.
Manchester United had also been interested in signing the 22-year-old but according to Le 10 Sport they will now switch their focus to attempting to agree a deal to bring Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile to Old Trafford instead.
Everton had also expressed an interest in signing Gabriel but were reported to have had a €20m offer rejected earlier this week.
Napoli signed Gabriel’s now former team-mate Victor Osimhen earlier this summer for an initial €60m but have lost out to Arsenal in recent years with the likes of Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Nicolas Pepe all favouring moves to north London.
Mikel Arteta is keen to strengthen his defence during the transfer window, particularly given he is said to be giving consideration to reverting to a 4-3-3 formation next season.
Arsenal will listen to offers for the likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding, while Shkodran Mustafi could also be deemed surplus to requirements.
William Saliba has returned from his loan spell at Saint Etienne, while both Pablo Mari and David Luiz, fresh from signing new deals, will compete for first team places.
Gabriel is expected to make his decision, meanwhile, imminently with Lille president Gerard Lopez confirming the Ligue 1 club will not stand in his way.
‘The way we work is very simple,’ he told BBC World Service. ‘We explain to him and his environment, his agent, what we are looking for, and once we get those offers the choice is his, like we did with Nico [Pepe] and Victor [Oshimen].
‘We are there now, so we told him, ‘Eventually you have to make a decision but we’re not pressing you’.
‘I think he will make it this week, or next week at the latest. He is leaving, we’ve given the OK for that. ‘There’s a lot of competition. He’s a young player so he’s got to make sure he makes the right decision.
‘We help him out a little bit so we tell him, ‘We think this might be the right manager or club for you’. ‘He’s got so much talent, he will succeed wherever he goes.’
Follow Metro Sport across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.