Arsenal loses battle for French attacker after Sevilla confirms signing 1

Sevilla have secured the service of Wissam Ben Yedder from Toulouse on a five-year deal, the Europa League champions have confirmed. It means Arsenal missed another chance to secure a deal as the Gunners also trying their best to sign Ben Yedder.

The 25-year-old netted 17 goals in 35 Ligue 1 appearances last season, helping Toulouse avoid relegation by one point, but it actually did little to prevent him being linked with a move away from the club all summer.

Sevilla confirmed the deal on their official website, saying the attacker has signed a contract at the club until 2021 for an undisclosed fee after passing his medical on Monday.

The former France U21 international joined Toulouse from UJA Alfortville in 2010 and featured 156 times for the side in Ligue 1, scoring 63 goals.

Yet another Arsenal summer where Gooners have had to deal with links to star names like Higuain and Mahrez die their inevitable death too soon. Unsurprisingly, Arsenal fans were not at all happy with this latest link to a relative no one, when the story broke out that Arsenal chasing the former Toulouse attacker.

What goal-scoring stats have attracted Arsenal? In fairness, they’re not bad at all – he has consistently hit strong numbers for the last four seasons in a row.

Having scored only once in his first two seasons for Toulouse, Ben Yedder has really turned things around since then, with 70 goals in the last four years.

His best tally was 23 in 41 games last season, which came with five assists, suggesting he may be the complete forward Wenger would love to have in his ranks.

In recent months, the 25-year-old has been linked with a wide variety of clubs, with Arsenal joining Barcelona, Sevilla, Leicester City, West Ham and even Seattle Sounders in the chase for his signature.

The Sun earlier this week reported that Arsene Wenger was confident to beat Sevilla for his services in a deal worth £8m ($10.5m) as the Gunners are still in the hunt for a striker to bolster the attack after having failed to sign other targets like Jamie Vardy and Alexandre Lacazette.

But Sevilla have now announced that they have beaten other suitors for his services only hours later they confirmed the departure of Gameiro to Atletico Madrid.

The Frenchman is eventually expected to fill the gap left by his compatriot and different sources in Spain claimed that the deal have been completed in around €9m.