Arsenal Set to Confirm January Signing of Hertha Berlin Defender Omar Rekik

Arsenal are understood to be set to confirm the January capture of Hertha Berlin defender Omar Rekik, having narrowly missed out on the youngster in the summer.

The Gunners had agreed a fee of £900,000 with the Bundesliga outfit as part of Matteo Guendouzi’s loan move to Germany. However, the club were unable to rubber stamp the deal in time and the 18-year-old was forced to remain with Hertha.

Despite the deadline day setback, Arsenal have continued to monitor the highly-rated defender's progress, and it seems they've finally got their man, with football.london reporting a deal has been thrashed out.

The youngster is yet to make his senior debut for Hertha having been named as an unused substitute on three occasions, and Mikel Arteta is keen to immediately loan him back to Germany in order for him to gain valuable first-team experience.

Despite being yet to make his senior debut, Rekik has already been on the books of several respectable European outfits, having spent time at Manchester City, Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Marseille prior to his move to Hertha.

While Arteta is keen to see the Netherlands-born defender train with the first team, Rekik is set to initially link up with Per Mertesacker in the Arsenal Under-23 squad.

Mikel Arteta's side have struggled this season | Pool/Getty Images

The defender will become the latest in a long line of recent additions to the youth side, as academy chief Mertesacker looks to bolster their depleted squad.

Nikolaj Moller (Malmo), Jonathan Dinzeyi (Tottenham), Tim Akinola (Huddersfield), George Lewis (Fram Larvik), Joel Ideho (Ajax) and Catalin Cirjan have all been added to the youth team roster in recent months.

Rekik's arrival will see him compete with the likes of Dinzeyi, Harry Clarke and Daniel Ballard for a place in the team.


Source : 90min