Arsenal have confirmed their first signing of the January transfer window with teenage defender Omar Rekik from Hertha Berlin.
The club have already completed two outgoings with Sead Kolasinac and William Saliba both departing on loan in the past few days.
Incomings are expected as Mikel Arteta seeks to bolster his options, with Emi Buendia and Julian Brandt among the names being linked.
But it has now been confirmed that Dutch centre back Rekik will be the first player they bring in this month.
football.london reported back in November that Arsenal were looking to secure a deal for the ball playing defender, and speaking in his press conference earlier on Thursday Mikel Arteta revealed that Arsenal had been scouting the 19-year-old for some time.
"He’s a young talent that we’ve been following for a while that we believe has a really bright future," he said.
Pictures show that Rekik has already trained with the Gunners after passing a medical, but he the club confirmed in a statement that he will be joining up with Steve Bould's under-23 side.
Despite being such a young age the Dutchman has already played for Feyenoord, Manchester City, PSV and Marseille in his youth career.
He is primarily a centre back, but is capable of playing on either the left or the right hand side of defence.
His signature is part of a new aggressive policy towards youth recruitment led by academy manager Per Mertesacker that saw Arsenal bring in Nikolaj Moller, Tim Akinola, Joel Ideho, George Lewis and Jonathan Dinzeyi in the last transfer window.
It is unclear yet as to whether more arrivals are set to follow that of Rekik.
The Gunners' technical director Edu revealed last month that the club are looking to bring in a central creative midfielder this month.
Emiliano Buendia and Julian Brandt are among the players to have been linked with a move to the Emirates.
However, this is solely dependent on Arsenal's ability to get players out of the squad.
When asked if his squad was still bloated in his press conference ahead of the FA Cup third round clash with Newcastle on Saturday, Mikel Arteta simply replied "yes."
