LONDON. — Arsene Wenger has confirmed Arsenal are closing in on their first signing of the January window, believed to be Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny.

“We hope to announce a player in the next 24 to 48 hours,” he said after Arsenal’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Sunderland on Saturday. “I don’t need to tell you the name.”

In fact, Wenger could be splashing the cash on THREE top mid-fielders this month.

With Elneny incoming, the Daily Star now suggest that the Gunners are preparing to go all out to sign Borussia Monchengladbach star Granit Xhaka and Paris Saint-Germain rebel Adrien Rabiot.

Swiss international Xhaka (23) will reportedly cost a whopping £37million, while Rabiot could move for around £15million.

The paper also claimed that the mother of Rabiot (20), who is also his agent, was in London at the weekend to discuss a potential move to the Gunners.

Rabiot publicly declared that he wanted to leave PSG earlier this season forcing his own fans to boo him during a league fixture.

Xhaka, meanwhile, is reportedly wanted by a host of Premier League clubs.

Wenger also said he is not concerned that a hectic period of fixtures could derail his team’s bid for glory on multiple fronts this season.

The Frenchman rested a number of players, including Mesut Ozil, for Saturday’s FA Cup third-round tie with Sunderland, which Arsenal won 3-1 courtesy of goals from Joel Campbell, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.

Alexis Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky are all currently sidelined, but Wenger is confident that his squad has sufficient depth to cope. “There is a little bit of concern,” said Wenger, whose side are bidding to win the FA Cup for the third season in succession.

“But I believe that the next step is to get Rosicky back, Welbeck back, Sanchez back, Wilshere back and maybe we will get one player in (during the January transfer window).

“Overall, we have no new injuries so I’m not worried. If we had the same number of injuries, we would be a bit short.”

Arsenal, English Premier League leaders, visit Liverpool on Wednesday, but Wenger resisted the temptation to rest all his first-choice picks, as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp did in his side’s 2-2 draw at Exeter City on Friday.

But teenage midfielder Alex Iwobi was handed a rare start and the Nigerian made the most of the opportunity.

“I liked the timing of his passes,” Wenger said. — AFP.

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