Midfielder Mohamed Elneny has skipped training with parent club Basel in order to finalise his move to Arsenal.
The Swiss giants held their first training session yesterday following a Christmas break and Elneny did not attend.
Basel later confirmed on their official website that the defensive midfielder was absent as well as Yoichiro Kakitani, who has returned to Japanese side Cerezo Oska.
In the online statement, Basel wrote: “Not with us during the start of training was Yoichiro Kakitani, he has transferred immediately to Cerezo Osaka, his previous club in Japan.
“Also absent was Mohamed Elneny, for who there could be a transfer in the coming days.” they added.
The 23-year-old is currently in England to undergo a medical and is awaiting confirmation on a working visa before his transfer is officially announced.
Swiss news publication Neue Zurcher Zeitung say the transfer fee is in the region of £7.4million and will be completed within the next couple of days.
Arsenal have been struck by a plague of injuries to their midfield this campaign so Elneny would give manager Arsene Wenger more options to choose from for his starting line-up.
Wenger is struggling to make up a complete midfield at the minute with Santi Carzola, Mikel Arteta, Francis Coquelin, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky all being unavailable for selection.
By Drew Darbyshire (@DarbySports)
