Senderos is 17. He gets his name from a Spanish father, but grew up in Switzerland and has played at U21 level as well as captaining the country at U17. He has been a regular for Servette in the top Swiss division this season.

Arsenal have, however, agreed to sign him next summer, and both clubs have announced the move. He has agreed terms with Arsenal, and Arsenal and Servette have presumably come to an arrangement too, although whether money has changed hands yet is anyone's guess. Presumably it'll be dependent on some sort of medical next year...?

There are some good quotes in the Reuters report.

According to KopTalk, Liverpool were the first English club to notice young Philippe, and were under the impression that he was due to come over to Anfield for a visit during the fortcoming Swiss mid-season break. They'll be even more pissed off if it turns out that the deal with Arsenal was struck 3 months ago, as is claimed by Servette president Christian Luescher in a report on SoccerAge

Rupe adds...
Ian Mackenzie sends some more Senderos info from the Swiss press...

He captained the Switzerland Under-17 side that won the European Championship last summer (and apparently he did a comprehensive defensive job on young Mr Rooney).

He's big, and better looking than Keown or Cygan! (I think that's Ian's opinion rather than a quote from a Swiss paper)

His Spanish father wanted him to go to Real Madrid. His mother, originally from Germany, wanted him to go to Bayern, but he chose London, the Premiership and Wenger. Liverpool, ManUre, Juventus, Ajax and Eindhoven were all after him as well.

The Senderos family wrote to Servette earlier this year saying he was not going to renew his contract which ends at the end of June next summer. The club didn't react, which means that Arsenal could apparently have got him for a £200,000 quid imdemnity, rather like Anelka (who he?) from PSG, but instead they've paid six million Swiss francs, about £2.6 million quid, with half going to the player. Not bad at 17 years old.

He's played regularly for the Servette first team this autumn in Switzerland, but Wenger says he might take a few years to find his place in the Arsenal first team. Wenger also says that young players always find their place at the Arsenal, but he's allowed a few delusions!