Chelsea are growing increasingly confident they will agree a £35million deal to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Arsenal.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has ruled out selling Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud in the transfer window but he is yet to make the same assurance over Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is now in the final year of his existing contract.
Standard Sport understands no fee has yet been agreed but negotiations between the two clubs are ongoing and the Blues have received sufficient encouragement to believe a transfer is possible.
Wenger would ideally like to keep Oxlade-Chamberlain, having last week described the 23-year-old as having the potential to become a “very great player”.
He joined Arsenal in 2011 but a series of injuries and an inability to hold down one position has seen his career stall in recent seasons.
Oxlade-Chamberlain played as a left-wing back during Friday’s 4-3 win against Leicester. He has also been used on the right in Wenger’s 3-4-2-1 system, as a winger in a 4-2-3-1 and as a central midfielder.
Both player and manager believe his long-term future is in a central berth and he has been training in that position with England on an intermittent basis since last season.
The Arsenal players with expiring contracts
However, it is doubtful whether he would make Arsenal’s first-choice line-up when everybody is fit and Oxlade-Chamberlain is keen to ensure he is a regular wherever he plays this season, especially with the World Cup in Russia to come.
Hector Bellerin is naturally suited to the right wing-back role, while Sead Kolasinac is likely to play on the left once Laurent Koscielny returns from a ban and Shkodran Mustafi and Per Mertesacker are fit.
Liverpool and Manchester City are thought to retain an interest in Oxlade-Chamberlain but Antonio Conte is ready to offer the player a right wing-back role in his starting 11 ahead of Victor Moses.
Talks have stalled between Arsenal and Oxlade-Chamberlain over a new contract. The Gunners are unlikely to allow Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Oxlade-Chamberlain to run their deals down and the latter is most likely to leave, with Wenger considering a sale.
Wenger wants to trim the first-team squad this month, with 33 players on the books, but they have so far only sold one senior player: Wojciech Szczesny to Juventus for £14m.