I am not sure if you have heard this one before Gooners, but some people think that Arsenal could do with signing a world class central midfielder, a player with defensive discipline, high work rate and the power to battle Premier League opponents. Oh I don’t know, maybe someone like Patrick Vieira perhaps. I seem to remember the Gunners doing quite well when he played for us.
But joking aside, I do think that Arsene Wenger is coming around to the idea and accepting that Mikel Arteta or Mathieu Flamini are not always the answer. Per Mertesacker even revealed this week, as reported by ESPN, that he and Mesut Ozil had spoken to their German international colleague Sami Khedira about coming to Arsenal from Real Madrid. I doubt if they would have done this without knowing that Wenger was actually interested in the transfer.
It now looks like Khedira will be staying in Spain though, but Wenger may still be looking to sign a defensive midfielder in January. We can only hope! And one of the players thought to be high on his list is another German international, Lars Bender of Bayer Leverkusen. And here is why FC Barcelona could help Arsenal to get the transfer done, by focusing the manager’s mind and intent.
Metro have reported that Barca are also very keen on the tough tackling 25-year old, but they are not allowed to sign any more players for the next two transfer windows. But that means that they could sign him next January, making it a good idea for the Gunners to get the transfer completed sooner rather than later to avoid the lure of the Nou Camp coming into the equation.
So the report claims that Wenger could be preparing a bid of £19 million for the German in January. If this is true, then thanks must go to Barcelona.