Arsenal close to deal with Nice for Colombian goalkeeper Ospina

MARSEILLE - Arsenal are close to reaching an agreement to sign Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina from Nice for a reported four million euros ($5.4 million), the French club's president confirmed on Sunday.

"There isn't an agreement yet but we're not far away," Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere told AFP.

The two clubs are understood to have reached a verbal agreement over the transfer, according to a source close to the Ligue 1 outfit, but the move has yet to be finalised.

Ospina, 25, has spent the past six seasons with Nice and was part of the Colombia side that reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Brazil for the first time in the country's history.

Ospina would provide competition for Arsenal's incumbent number one and Poland international Wojciech Szczesny.