Club agree to sell player to Arsenal after talks with Mertesacker; medical scheduled

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Arsenal academy boss Per Mertesacker has secured the signing of Omar Rekik from Hertha Berlin, according to BILD.

The Gunners have been following the teenager for a while now. Arsenal were very close to signing Rekik in the summer but a move could not be completed in time. It was claimed that we would come back to complete the deal in January and that has happened.

The report claims that Mertesacker has convinced Hertha to let go of their teenage talent. Rekik has been given permission by his club to undergo medicals at Arsenal, and that is expected to be completed in the coming days.

The report claims that Arsenal will pay a fee in the region of £542,000. Rekik will initially join the academy team, but he has reportedly been promised by Mertesacker that he will be allowed to train with the first-team squad.

Mikel Arteta has already shown that he isn’t afraid to give opportunities to kids.

Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson have are all regulars in the first-team now, while the likes of Folarin Balogun and Miguel Azeez have also been given a chance.

Rekik, if he can impress Mertesacker and co with the under-23’s, will make himself known to Arteta.

Arsenal will lose David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos for nothing in the summer.

A new centre-back will be on the agenda for Edu, but if Rekik can impress like Gabriel Martinelli did when he first came in, he could make the jump to the first-team very soon.