Sky Sports: Arsenal and Madrid agree to Sahin deal

According to a report from Sky Sports, Arsenal and Real Madrid have agreed on a loan deal that would send midfielder Nuri Sahin to the Emirates. They claim that the deal could be completed before the weekend and that the player could be available to play against Stoke City, though I would say that's unlikely considering how soon the game would be after his arrival and the manner in which Stoke play.

As always, with Sky Sports reports this should be taken relatively lightly, but after the series of reports from independent and legitimate sources in the past couple of days, I would not be surprised at all if it were true.

Of course, the BBC reported that a deal was close days ago, though questions remain over exactly what form the deal will take. It's been rumored that Arsenal are after a clause that would allow the club to make the deal permanent at year's end, but there's no definitive word presently one way or the other on that. Personally, I hope there is such a clause, because Nuri Sahin is really pretty good at football.

Also, I really hope he brings his sunglasses.