Hamburger SV have reached a full agreement to sign Fabio Vieira on an initial loan with an option to buy worth more than £17m, according to a report.
On Sunday night, German outlet Kicker reported that as well as Albert Sambi Lokonga, Hamburg were also planning to sign Fabio Vieira from Arsenal.
Lokonga is joining the Bundesliga club on a permanent transfer, but the expectation for Vieira was that he’d be joining on an initial loan deal.
Florian Plettenberg reports that Arsenal and Hamburg have now reached a full agreement on a loan with an option to buy worth more than €20m (£17.3m).
Plettenberg adds that Vieira will arrive in Hamburg within the next hour to undergo his medical, with the player currently on a flight.
Jason Burt of The Telegraph confirms that Vieira is set to make the move, in what looks to be a busy deadline day for Hamburg.
The midfielder had been linked with a number of other clubs, including West Ham United, but perhaps the strongest links were to VfB Stuttgart.
Stuttgart were interested in a permanent deal, which would have appealed to Arsenal. But the club consistently baulked at Arsenal’s valuation of the player, despite being flush with cash after selling Nick Woltemade and Enzo Millot for combined fees of around £90m this summer.
Perhaps Stuttgart believed Arsenal would eventually give in to their lowball bids, but the Gunners now appear to be handing Vieira over to one of Stuttgart’s Bundesliga rivals instead.
Vieira played no part for Arsenal in pre-season, nor has he been involved in the first few Premier League squads of the new campaign.
It’s a shame Arsenal weren’t able to agree a permanent transfer or a loan with an obligation to buy, and they’ll now be hoping Vieira performs sufficiently well that Hamburg decide to activate their option to buy next summer.
First things first, all parties need to formalise the transfer ahead of tonight’s transfer deadline.