MOTD analysis - Fabregas in action (UK users only)
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are both close to finalising moves away from the club.
Fabregas is on the verge of signing for European champions Barcelona for a fee believed to be about £35m.
Nasri is set to move to Manchester City with the clubs close to agreeing a fee between £22m and £24m.
"We hope it will be sorted out very quickly one way or the other," Wenger said of Fabregas.
"The Nasri situation is stable. Again it is very difficult to speak about possible transfers but we are in a situation where we have to make decisions one way or the other. Ideally you want it to be sorted out before the season starts."
Analysis
For the first time, Arsene Wenger appears resigned to losing his two best players. The manager has seen Arsenal stars come and go before, but the expected departure of both Fabregas and Nasri as the season begins will be hard for him to take. Wenger now faces the greatest challenge of his career, deciding how to spend the £60m he will have to rebuild his side. At a defining press conference on Friday morning, Wenger must convince the club's traumatised fans that Arsenal can move on, and quickly.
A senior Arsenal source has told BBC Sport the funds generated by Fabregas's sale will be reinvested in new players.
The Gunners have been linked with Scott Dann, Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill.
Wenger looks intent on strengthening his defence and reports have suggested centre-backs Dann of Birmingham, Everton's Jagielka and Cahill of Bolton could be targets.
Fabregas, 24, would be unable to feature for Barcelona in the Champions League if he plays a part in Arsenal's match with Udinese on Tuesday. It now seems Wenger expects the deal to go through before the Gunners' Premier League opener this weekend.
BBC Sport understands the fee would be £30m, plus over £5m of additional performance-related payments.
Nasri's value to Arsenal would decrease to zero if he is allowed to run down the final year of a contract he signed with the club on joining from Marseille in July 2008.
It is believed that the Spaniard would be due £4m in compensation - £1m for each year of his contract he did not complete - but may be prepared to forego that payment in order to facilitate a deal.
Negotiations have been conducted by Barcelona's vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
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The transfer fee is significantly less than the £40m that Arsenal had been holding out for and suggests that the Gunners felt they had no choice but to sell a player who wanted to leave.
Fabregas, who has 58 caps for Spain, joined Arsenal from the Catalan giants in 2003 and, since making his name in north London, has been persistently linked with a return to his boyhood club.
Barcelona made their first formal offer for Fabregas in June 2010.
Nasri, meanwhile, has yet to pen a new deal, and so could leave for nothing next summer.
Manchester City are reported to be ready to bid up to £25million for the France midfielder, and that deal could also be completed before the weekend.
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