Gunners agree fee with Spanish giants for defender transfer.
Arsenal have reportedly agreed a fee of £15 million to sell club captain Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona.
The news has been broken on Twitter by BBC Sport, and comes just a day after Gunners boss Arsene Wenger confirmed that he would not be selling the Belgian international to Premier League rivals Manchester United this summer.
.@Arsenal have agreed a fee of around £15m with @FCBarcelona for the sale of captain Thomas Vermaelen. more soon pic.twitter.com/37aNjQdGbx
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 8, 2014
Vermaelen had made it known that to Wenger that he wanted to move on in order to play more first team football at this crucial stage in his career after spending the majority of the previous campaign either on the sidelines through injury or on the bench behind Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
Wenger had put it to United that he would consider a swap deal involving Chris Smalling, but Louis Van Gaal was not interested.
Reports are that Barca have offered Vermaelen a five year deal, where United only offered three with the option of a fourth.
My colleague @Matt_Law_DT also hearing that length of contract is potentially significant. Barca offering 5yrs. Utd 3+1
— Jeremy Wilson (@JWTelegraph) August 8, 2014
COMMENTS