Marseille are moving to snap up Caen midfielder N'Golo Kante as a replacement for Giannelli Imbula, and in the process beating Arsenal to the signature of the 24-year-old.
Imbula is heading to join up with Portuguese giants FC Porto after he snubbed interest from Roberto Mancini's Inter. And Marseille are acting quickly to hoover up his successor in the middle of the park.
According to French sports daily L'Equipe, Marseille president Vincent Labrune met Kante's representatives early last week to put a deal in place and the midfielder is poised to make a €5m move to the Stade Velodrome.
Kante had interest from elsewhere, notably Arsenal and several German clubs, but has been clear he wants to remain in France.
Marseille have long been ahead of their competition for Kante and Labrune thrashed out a verbal agreement to sign the player with his Caen counterpart Jean-Francois Fortin at the start of the year.
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Kante is a product of Boulogne's youth system and was snapped up by Caen in 2013.
Highly rated, Marseille view Kante as an ideal replacement for Imbula.
The midfielder has been offered a five-year contract at the Stade Velodrome.
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