Gabriel Magalhaes heads for London to complete £27m move to Arsenal from Lille

Gabriel Magalhaes is on his way to London to complete his £27m move to Arsenal from Lille, but the defender will have to quarantine for 14 days before meeting his new team-mate. 

The Brazilian centre half has been a man in demand this summer with a host of clubs across Europe interested in signing the 22-year-old, including Manchester United and Napoli.

But Arsenal are set to win the race for Magalhaes, and he is on his way to the Gunners to complete a £27m switch in a huge boost for Mikel Arteta ahead of the 2020-21 campaign. 

Gabriel Magalhaes is on his way to London to complete a £27m move to Arsenal this week

The 22-year-old is a player in demand with Manchester United and Napoli both interested 

Arsenal fans have even claimed to be tracking the Brazilian’s car, with Twitter user @smeagol_11 claiming to have found a car believed to be occupied by the 22-year-old on the M1. 

Should Magalhaes complete his move to the Gunners in the coming days as expected, he will face a wait before joining his new team-mates in training. 

There has recently been a spike in coronavirus cases across France, meaning it is now on Britain’s quarantine list, meaning anyone coming to the UK from the country has to self-isolate for 14 days. 

Should Magalhaes join Arsenal, he would need to quarantine for 14 days in self-isolation

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been eager to bolster his defensive options this summer

Last week, a spike in covid-19 cases was reported among the 12 Premier League clubs that returned to pre-season training, with a total of 14 positive cases recorded. 

In contrast there were only 30 positive cases from around 35,000 tests carried out during Project Restart so the increase is significant, and is likely to be the result of players and staff travelling more widely during the summer.

Arsenal have been eager to get their transfer business done quickly this summer, and have already landed Magalhaes’ countryman, WIllian, from Chelsea on a three-year deal after the attacker left Stamford Bridge on a free.