Yahoo Sport 
Arsenal close to agreeing deal for £60m Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Arsenal are increasingly hopeful that they will sign striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a club-record fee of £60 million before the January transfer window closes on Wednesday.
It is understood that a fee is close to being agreed with Borussia Dortmund for Aubayemang after Arsenal, who have had two bids rejected, finally indicated they would meet the asking price that has been demanded all along.
The remaining sticking point appears to be Dortmund’s insistence that they line up a replacement before agreeing to sell the 28-year-old. It still means the deal could go down to the final day.
Dortmund have discussed signing Olivier Giroud, possibly on loan, with the French international fearful that should Aubameyang arrive at Arsenal then he will fall even further down the pecking order and put his place in his country’s World Cup squad in jeopardy. But is unclear whether Giroud has agreed to move to Dortmund and what assurances he will seek over playing time.
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Aubayemang has been trying to leave Dortmund for months and was suspended by the club for missing a team meeting two weeks ago, ahead of a game, but returned for Saturday’s draw with Freiburg. It was the Gabon international’s first start since Dec 16 and he played the 90 minutes.
Arsenal sent a delegation – headed by chief executive Ivan Gazidis and former Dortmund chief scout Sven Mislintat, who now fills a similar role for the Premier League club – to Germany last weekend to discuss the signing but had grown fearful because of the slow progress of the deal. If he is signed then Aubameyang will be reunited with former Dortmund team-mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
"We are ready to realise a transfer under certain parameters but only if these are fully met," sporting director Michael Zorc told German TV. "We have a clear position. Arsenal has started several attempts so far. We have up to now refused them all."
