For the past few weeks, reports from Italy have repeatedly linked Bologna’s Aaron Hickey to Arsenal.
On Monday, Corriere di Bologna stated the Italian club’s sporting director, Riccardo Bigon, ‘collected a potential proposal’ from the Gunners from his trip to London last week.
Bologna suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sassuolo in their last home game of this term. It could be the left-back’s last tie at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, prior to his switch to Arsenal.
That’s according to Calciomercato, who state the Scotland international is ‘one step away from moving’ to the north London club.
It’s claimed Bigon’s trip to England last week to ‘finalise the agreement’ with the Premier League side has been ‘profitable’ for Bologna. They further add the deal to take the 19-year-old to the Emirates should be ‘finalised’ in the ‘next few days’.
The two clubs have found a ‘general agreement’ for €23-24m plus bonuses. With this, Calciomercato add Mikel ‘Arteta can smile because he [and his side] beat the competition from several Italian clubs’.
This deal makes Bologna chairman Joey Saputo happy as the player’s sale [signed for less than €2m] to Arsenal helps the club make a ‘rich capital gain’.
Another report from Calciomercato has a title which reads: ‘Hickey leaves Bologna! All done with this club’
Within the report, it’s said the fullback is ‘close to Arsenal’.
It’s said that Bigon’s decision to travel to London last week was ‘decisive to accelerate a deal’ to take Hickey to the Premier League side. The website explains ‘only the last details are missing’ for the transfer to take shape.
