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Oxed off

Arsenal's misery utterly compounded, Keita to Liverpool in 2018, and today's transfer gossip

Things go from bad to worse for Arsenal while Liverpool reportedly get their man, but a year down the line.

HERE ARE THE good, the bad, and the unlikely football moves being talked about today…

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks set to beat Alexis Sanchez to the exit door as Arsenal’s season continues to capitulate even in its infancy.

Several outlets, including The Telegraph and Sky Sports, have reported that the Gunners’ London rivals Chelsea have agreed a fee in the region of £35million with Arsenal for the England international.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, who recently rejected a new deal at the Emirates, will now discuss personal terms with the Premier League champions, and is expected to traverse London before the transfer window closes on Thursday night.

Despite Arsene Wenger’s insistence earlier this summer that the 24-year-old would not be sold, Matt Law of The Telegraph writes that ‘The Ox’ has been given special leave from England training to secure the move, and may miss his country’s upcoming World Cup qualifier versus Malta.

To make matters worse for Arsenal fans, Twitter is alight with cheeky GIFs in light of rumours that Liverpool have bid £55m for Thomas Lemar, mere days after Wenger announced Arsenal would not be signing the 21-year-old French midfielder from Monaco.

While on the topic of Liverpool, this one now strikes as less a rumour, more a done deal (please, no klaxons): the Reds have agreed a club record deal to sign RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita, with the midfielder set to move to Anfield in July 2018, per the majority of major UK publications.

The BBC’s chief football writer, Phil McNulty, reports that Liverpool have agreed to pay the £48m release clause that will allow the 22-year-old to move next summer, along with an undisclosed premium.

Jurgen Klopp has pursued the Guinean all summer, but RB Leipzig – runners-up in last season’s Bundesliga – had thus far refused to part company with their star man. It now seems he’ll continue to line out for ‘RasenBallsport’ having already completed his move to Liverpool a year in advance of upping sticks to Merseyside.

Spanish sports magazine Don Balón claims Manchester United have lodged a €100m bid for one Gareth Bale, who was jeered by the Bernabéu crowd after missing several chances during Real Madrid’s 2-2 draw with Valencia on Sunday night. Bale was ultimately replaced by Lucas Vázquez in the 74th minute, and his place in Zinedine Zidane’s first team is hardly guaranteed in light of Marco Asensio’s rapid rise to prominence. The young Spaniard netted both Real’s goals last night.

Earlier this summer, Bale reiterated his desire to remain at Real Madrid, while club president Florentino Perez insisted the Welsh wizard was not for sale. That being said, a cool €100m for a player who may wind up on the bench should he continue to labour in La Liga is hardly a sum to be sniffed at.

Tottenham Hotspur central defender Kevin Wimmer will sign for Stoke City today after the two clubs agreed a fee of £15m for the Austrian international. It’s understood Wimmer has already completed his medical.

There may also be some movement on the estranged striker front, with seldom-seen Chelsea forward Loïc Rémy being linked with a move back to Newcastle United, and Wilfried Bony – still at Manchester City, hard and all as that might be to believe – eyeing a return to Swansea should Antonio Conte prize his former charge Fernando Llorente away from the Welsh club.

27-year-old Ukrainian forward Andriy Yarmolenko has joined Borussia Dortmund for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract. The Bundesliga club confirmed his signing hours after Barcelona confirmed they had recruited French prodigy Ousmane Dembele in a deal worth up to €147 million.

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