Alexandre Lacazette is in London ahead of a club-record move to the Premier League, and he is set to be confirmed as an Arsenal player in the next 48 hours.
The Frenchman was due to undergo his Gunners medical at their London Colney training ground on Tuesday prior to finalising a £44million switch from Lyon.
The transfer fee eclipses the £42.5m spent by Arsenal on Mesut Ozil in 2013.
Arsenal made an unsuccessful £29m bid to sign the 26-year-old a year ago and saw an opening offer of £39.5m rejected this summer, before reaching an agreement with Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas.
‘The deal will happen for something between that and £43.8m. To be close to €50m is something unique, and will be a record for Arsenal and a record for Lyon,’ Aulas said of the impending transfer.
‘One must also take into account that traditionally, a club like Arsenal do not have the habit of spending so much for one player.
‘We will without a doubt hit a record. It is not a small transfer, €50m for a player who was produced by our club.’
Lacazette has been with Lyon since the start of his career, scoring 129 goals in 275 games for his hometown club. Last season he scored 37 times in 45 appearances.
