Arsenal look to be on the verge of completing their third summer signing, with Arsene Wenger set to bring in a highly-rated goalkeeper to compete with Wojciech Szczesny.
Wenger, after Arsenal's opening preseason game with Boreham Wood, said he "would bring in a goalkeeper for sure" to give Szczesny a run for the first-choice money, following the departure of Lukasz Fabianski to Swansea City.
And the manager seems to be true to his word with reports in France suggesting a move was as good as complete. According to Nice-Matin, who said a move is pretty close last week, David Ospina to Arsenal is pretty much a done deal after the English Premier League side agreed on a €4 million (£3.2 million) fee with French club Nice.
Ospina, who is also thought to have agreed on personal terms, is now expected to fly into London for a medical before putting the final stamp on his move to the Emirates.
If the deal is indeed completed, it will be yet another brilliant signing for Arsenal, who seem to mean business in this summer transfer window.
Having already completed moves for Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona and Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle, Ospina will add further quality as well as squad strength to Arsenal, who are also in the market for a defensive midfielder with the likes of Sami Khedira, Lars Bender, Morgan Schneiderlin and William Carvalho all holding an interest at varying degrees.
Ospina impressed one and all with his performances in the World Cup for Colombia, and a move away from Nice looked likely after he made it clear he would not be signing a new contract with the French club.
With just a year remaining on his current deal with Nice, several clubs showed an interest in signing the goalkeeper, with Arsenal and La Liga club Valencia thought to be the frontrunners.
However, if the report in Nice-Matin turns out to be on point, then Arsenal have pulled off another big coup, and that too at an extremely reasonable price.
Arsenal have also been linked with a move for Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas, with reports from Spain recently suggesting the experienced goalkeeper had asked his club to let him move on a free transfer to the Emirates.
Casillas has not been first-choice at Real Madrid for a couple of seasons now, with Diego Lopez doing the bulk of the duty last season, and with the Los Blancos closing in on the signature of Keylor Navas, the Spain veteran probably knows his chances at Real, under Carlo Ancelotti, will be further limited.
Even if Arsenal are given an opportunity to sign Casillas, though, Wenger will have to consider two major issues – the player's wages, which will be one of the highest in the team, and the fact that the goalkeeper might not be happy with another role on the bench.
Considering those issues, it does seem like Ospina is the better choice, with the Colombian, at 25, only just getting into his prime years as a goalkeeper and set to be much less expensive. Having another young and hungry keeper in the ranks will also make Szczesny work harder, which will only help Arsenal in the long run.
