Spanish newspaper Marca is claiming today that Gabriel Paulista is on the verge of signing for the Gunners. According to the source, the Villarreal defender is on his way to North London. Paulista has noted before that it is his “dream” to play in the Premier League for Arsenal. It seems that negotiations are going well and a fee is soon to be agreed and then all it depends on is the work permit being accepted for the player.

Wenger himself had confirmed earlier that the deal is close, stating the fee is around €20million (£15million).

“The talks are progressing quite well. I don’t think there is need to say much more,” he said. "We are talking at the moment, whether we can find an agreement or not, I don’t know.

“We are slowly progressing, but there is a chance. At the moment we are talking. The 20 million is euros, it’s £15m to transform the amount.

“We are ready to pay the price we think right for a good player, no matter what the price is. If we think it’s the right price we will pay.”

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague has since reported however, stating that the deal is not yet complete as Arsenal are unwilling to pay €20million for the defender. He had gone to twitter to talk about the deal:

“Villarreal sells Gabriel for €20m of his buy out clause (and even less!). But Arsenal not even close to that figure. Negotiations continue”

“On Gabriel/Arsenal: despite earlier reports in Spanish/UK press, deal not done. Arsenal won't pay €20m of his clause. Not even €17”

This comes as a shock as in his press conference earlier today, Wenger stated the deal is more or less done and that the club were just waiting on a work permit.

To add complications, it seems that the Spanish side want striker Joel Campbell as a part of the transfer deal. Whether this deal is a loan or permanent move in unknown and it is unclear if this is the roadblock in the deal being done.

“Joel Campbell wanted by R. Soc. but Villarreal wants him as part of Gabriel deal, which is still not agreed: AFC wont pay his buy out clause”