Arsenal make final Malick Fofana transfer decision with Lyon star set for medical

Arsenal have pulled out of the race to sign Malick Fofana from Lyon on transfer deadline day.

The Belgium international emerged as a target for the Gunners on Monday with Mikel Arteta still keen to strengthen his forward line following a number of high-profile snubs.

Morgan Rogers, Vinicius Junior and Julian Alvarez have all been coveted by the Premier League champions at various stages of the summer window but Christos Tzolis remains the only attacking player signed by Arteta.

Following the decisions to sanction the departures of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, as well as Ethan Nwaneri’s loan move to Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal have belatedly made an effort to compensate for those losses.

Arteta is understood to have held a conversation with Fofana, but Arsenal have been unable to strike a deal with Lyon.

The Ligue 1 side need to sell one of their prize assets following their failure to qualify for the Champions League after last week’s defeat to Fenerbahce and had been holding out for a fee of €40million.

Arsenal are, however, according to Fabrizio Romano, unwilling to meet that asking price which has allowed Sunderland an opportunity to pounce.

The 21-year-old is reported to have accepted an offer for the Black Cats and is now due to arrive on Wearside this afternoon ahead of a medical.

Arsenal are now understood to be assessing their options having all but admitted defeat in their pursuit of Alvarez who is now expected to remain at Atletico Madrid.

Arteta was, at least, able to celebrate a hard-fought 1-0 win over Aston Villa last night, after which he was pressed about the club’s deadline day plans.

‘We are trying to improve the squad, and until tomorrow night we’re going to try to do that,’ Arteta said.

‘I’ve been disconnected from the world for 24 hours, because I think my energy and focus has to be on the match, and I will get back on it now.’

Asked if he was confident that Arsenal had enough options in forward areas even with those departures, Arteta responded: ‘It depends if everybody’s fit or not.

‘We can talk about today, but that scenario might change. We knew that with Willy [Saliba] out, we had an injury in the back line. We knew we were in big trouble, so we had to do everything.

‘And today, Mosquera, he could not continue. So we know that the depth has to be really big when you’re fighting for four competitions, in the manner that we play as well. So we’re going to try to do that.’