Arsenal could finalise defender transfer in hours with imminent board meeting planned

Arsenal have a lot of work left to do in the transfer market ahead of next week’s deadline but the Gunners are closing in on a major cash boost that could open the door to more business

Arsenal are set to hold a board meeting on Tuesday to decide the future of Jakub Kiwior amid interest from Porto. The Polish defender has been linked with a move away from the Emirates all summer.

And with the North London side needing to balance the books following a window of heavy spending, Kiwior is seen as someone who could be moved on for the right price. Italian giants AC Milan have long been linked with him but it appears that they have now moved to the back of the queue amid interest from elsewhere.

Porto are now the frontrunners to sign the defender before next week’s deadline and it appears that a switch to Portugal is now close. Porto are interested in signing Kiwior on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to buy him permanently next summer.

Portuguese outlet O Jogo report that the total package would be worth around €20million (£17.2m) to Arsenal which includes a loan fee. It is further detailed that Arsenal’s board will now meet to decide whether to accept that offer having originally set his price at around €30m (£25.9m).

Kiwior, 25, joined Arsenal from Italian side Spezia in 2023 and he has gone on to make 68 appearances – albeit he has never quite managed to establish himself as first choice under Mikel Arteta.

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Kiwior’s exit could potentially open the door to more business for Arsenal over the next week. They are interested in a move for Bayer Leverkusen Piero Hincapie, who is available for around £51m due to a release clause written into his contract.

Arsenal though are keen to lower that price and have already opened talks with Leverkusen regarding a potential deal. Asked if he was happy with his squad before the weekend, Arteta said: “In terms of numbers and quality, yes for sure.

“We have a really good balance of players, the versatility, the understanding of roles of those players, the mixture between experience and youth, the ambition, I am very happy with what we have.

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“We try to do everything in every department to have the best possible resources, with the best people and that’s what we try to do when it comes to the transfer market.”

“When you shake the tree and bring in more players there are always things that can happen,” he added about possible exits.

“The spirit of that is to be more competitive, to be better and learn from the past and with the squad we had last year we made life very, very difficult for ourselves because if you look at the size and depth of other squads and the resources they had, we wanted that at least and more.

“We wanted to be in a place where we feel very comfortable, the right level of competition in the team but as well the right characters in the right roles and how those roles are going to change. I think we are in a very good place.”

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