Arsenal have agreed a £42.4m (50m euros) deal with Real Madrid to sign midfielder Mesut Ozil, which would break their club record by £27.4m.
The 24-year-old has agreed personal terms but must have a medical before Arsenal can confirm his signing.
Ozil is on international duty and the medical will take place in Germany.
The Gunners are also in talks with Chelsea to sign 28-year-old striker Demba Ba on loan and want Palermo goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano, 27
Arsenal have failed in high-profile attempts to sign Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain, a former team-mate of Ozil at Real Madrid, this summer.
But they are close to capturing Ozil after Gareth Bale’s world-record £85.3m switch from Tottenham to Real triggered further deals on the final day of the transfer window.
Should the move be confirmed, it would easily surpass their club-record signing, the £15m they paid Zenit St Petersburg for Andrey Arshavin in 2009.
Germany international Ozil joined Real from Werder Bremen three years ago for a fee believed to be about £12.4m and has played 155 times for the club.
Ahead of the transfer deadline at 23:00 BST on Monday, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has made only two signings – striker Yaya Sanogo, 20, and midfielder Mathieu Flamini, 29, arriving on free transfers.
But the signing of Ozil, who helped Real win La Liga in 2011-12 and was named in Uefa’s team of the tournament at Euro 2012, would deliver a signal of intent to the Gunners’ Premier League rivals.
Ba, meanwhile, has played just 15 times for Chelsea in the Premier League since joining from Newcastle for £7m in January.
His only appearance under Jose Mourinho this season was in the 2-1 home victory over Aston Villa on 21 August, when the Senegal international was substituted.
Viviano is wanted as a back-up option to first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
An Italy international, he stood in for the injured Gianluigi Buffon during the Azzurri’s initial qualifiers for Euro 2012.
After impressing at Brescia and then Bologna, he joined Inter Milan but has struggled to recover his best form since sustaining a knee injury and spent last season on loan at hometown club Fiorentina.
BBC SPORT
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