Toni Sanabria
Reuters

Arsenal are closing in on a £2.5m move for promising Barcelona forward Toni Sanabria, according to the Daily Mail.

The 17-year-old is among the hottest prospects to come out of the Barcelona ranks and the Gunners are reported to have seen off competition from AS Roma for his signature.

Should the youngster move to the Emirates, he will be among the many teenage prospects to have made the trip from Spain, capped by Cesc Fabregas who was the pick of the bunch for the Gunners. Fabregas came to Arsenal as a 16-year-old where he had made the playmaking position his own before moving back to Barcelona to fulfil his childhood dream.

A host of other Premier league clubs, including the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham are also reported to be interested but the Gunners, given their history of honing young talent and giving them opportunities in the first team, are firm favourites in this race. Barcelona are trying their best to tie Sanabria to a new deal but the youngster is yet to relent to manager Tata Martino's pleas.

Should he make the journey, he will be alongside Jon Toral, Hector Bellerin and Julio Pleguezuelo who have also made the trip from the Barcelona youth ranks.

Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has spoken about Jack Wilshere's increased calmness in front of the goal. The midfielder scored a brace in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Marseille in the Champions League, to keep them top of group F, termed the group of death. The goals take Wilshere's tally to four, more than what he has scored in the entirety of last season.

"It demands vision, it demands calmness, it demands quality execution and he had all that in that goal. I would say his [first goal was] absolutely stunning. I must say I was even surprised by the way he took that goal. That shows his belief in his finishing has gone up a lot," he told www.arsenal.com.

"We have him and [Aaron] Ramsey who can score now and that's a huge improvement. Before we had Ramsey, two goals per year and Wilshere, two goals per year. To see them scoring goals is magnificent," he concluded.