Fabrizio Romano gives ‘here we go’ to first Arsenal transfer of deadline day | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund have reached a ‘verbal agreement’ to sign Ethan Nwaneri on a season-long loan deal from Arsenal, according to Fabrizio Romano.

After winning the Premier League title last season, Arsenal have brought in Illan Meslier (free, Leeds), Piero Hincapie (£34.5m, Bayer Leverkusen), Christos Tzolis (£34.12m, Club Brugge), Bruno Guimaraes (£75m, Newcastle) and Ezri Konsa (£51m, Aston Villa) so far this summer.

Arsenal are still looking for an attacker heading into the final day of the transfer window with Julian Alvarez and Eli Junior Kroupi among the names linked.

But there are also likely to be some players moving on after spending close to £200m so far this summer and Nwaneri is set to be the first of the day to leave.

It was revealed earlier in the summer that Arsenal were ‘open’ to offers for Nwaneri, who spent the second half of last season on loan at French side Marseille.

After receiving an offer late on Monday, Romano has now confirmed that Dortmund will seal a deal for Nwaneri before the transfer deadline.

Romano posted on X: ‘EXCLUSIVE: Borussia Dortmund reach verbal agreement to sign Ethan Nwaneri from Arsenal, here we go! Season long loan agreed from Arsenal as Nwaneri said yes to this possibility overnight. BVB sources confirm salary will be entirely covered by the Geeman club.’

Gary Neville hailed Riccardo Calafiori for his “outstanding” performance as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 1-0 on Monday night, courtesy of a Bukayo Saka goal.

Neville said on Sky Sports commentary: “Aston Villa are building back after losing a lot of players but for Arsenal, sometimes you think of a statement win being 3-0, 4-0 or 5-0… that’s a statement win where you just restrict the other team from having chances and shots on goal.

“They were completely in control, measured, patient, mature, been around the block.

“I think Calafiori could have been my man of the match tonight, he was outstanding.

“He’ll be really happy, Mikel Arteta, because his team are consistent and they’re reliable – that’s all you want in a football player.”

After watching Saka’s goal back, Jamie Carragher added: “Calafiori gets the cross in because Saka’s inside and gets the goal.

“That constant rotation of movement when you watch Arsenal play, especially from full-back, is something I don’t think we see any other team in the Premier League do. It’s a really standout for them.

“And especially this guy [Calafiori]… Ben White, of course, we know, he’s got a great relationship with Saka.

“But for me, Calafiori is far and away the best left-back in the Premier League. He’s absolutely fantastic.”