Aston Villa are on the verge of completing the signing of former Gunner Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund, with Villa travelling to Arsenal this weekend.
John Percy reported on Monday that Aston Villa had agreed an initial £18m deal to sign Donyell Malen from Borussia Dortmund. The fee has been agreed in principle, with Villa hopeful of finalising the transfer in the next few days.
There were slight discrepancies in the fee between sources, with Fabrizio Romano claiming that the agreement is for a €23m (£19.4m) fee with another €3m (£2.5m) in add-ons.
But all sources agree that it’s just about getting a medical and the formal steps of the transfer done now.
Borussia Dortmund effectively confirmed this themselves later in the day, reporting that Malen would not be part of the travelling squad for their next game as they’d allowed him to leave for talks with another club.
The timing is significant for Arsenal, as Malen is now in a race against time to get the move done before the Gunners face Villa at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, January 18th.
The 25-year-old is a former Arsenal player, joining the north London club in 2015 before leaving for PSV in 2017. He made plenty of appearances for the academy and appeared in first-team friendlies, but never made his competitive Gunners debut.
More recently, Malen has scored five goals and assisted one in 21 games for Dortmund this season. His overall record for the club is 59 goal contributions in 132 games.