Arsenal have taken a step closer to securing their replacement for Emi Martinez with Runar Alex Runarsson's move from Dijon edging closer.
football.london understands the goalkeeper has travelled to London to complete the deal, as first reported by Goal. With the Premier League fixture against West Ham to play on Saturday an imminent announcement is unlikely but could take place in the next 48-72 hours.
Mikel Arteta was specifically asked about Runarsson in his pre-match press conference on Friday [September 18] and had this to say:
"Obviously with the departure of Emi, which is a big loss and someone that I think we all wish the best to for what he has done for the football club as well as the person that he is - we have to replace him," he began.
"We are looking in the market and I think we will shortly in a position to announce a new signing.
"In football the hours can become days and then something that looks unlikely can happen straight away.
"Depending on what is going to happen with our third goalkeeping position as well because we had some talks about that over the past few months so still the market is open and things can change."
Heading into the 2020/21 campaign, goalkeeper looked to be a position where Arteta was going to have real dilemmas, however, with Martinez's £20million departure to Aston Villa, Bernd Leno will reemerge as the side's first choice for the new season.
Although the Spaniard insists he views goalkeeper like any other on the pitch, he gave an insight to why the decision to move forward with Leno is the No.1. was made.
"I was very clear with both of them that it wasn't a #1 and a #2 and that they had to compete for the place like any other position in the team," he added.
"To be fair, Bernd was superb before he got injured at Brighton and Emi was absolutely excellent with all of the games that he played and how much he helped us as well with winning the trophies.
"But at the end of the day, that created a big competition, some big expectations from both of them and we had to deal with that. We were really open, trying to have those discussions and at the end, Emi had a really good offer, really well-suited to what he wants to achieve long-term and short-term and we allowed him to leave the club."
