The Gunners have finally sprung to life in the transfer market and seem to be winning rave reviews for their activity. Arsene Wenger may have caused a stir earlier in the summer, when he was photographed relaxing on Brazilian beaches, but now he’s starting to make his mark where it counts.
Having already brought in an exciting striker, The Gunners now need to shore up their defense. Whilst Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have improved things at the back for Arsenal, they’re still capable of egregious errors and big away defeats.
Fans won’t have forgotten their clubs massive defeats at the hands of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City last year. I’m not sure that they’ll ever forget those games. But if The Gunners want to win the Premier League next year, they’ll need to ensure that there are no repeat incidents. More precisely, it’s up to Arsene Wenger to bring in some reinforcements.
This is surely why Arsenal have been linked so strongly to two talented defensive minded midfielders. The players in question are Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira and Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender.
I’m sure that they would both be excellent additions to this Arsenal squad, but for now, I’m going to focus on Lars Bender. After all, we know that Wenger’s interested in him. As The Telegraph notes: The Gunners had a £19m bid rejected for Bender last summer.
It’ll be interesting to see if Arsenal move back in for him this summer. He’s a younger option than Sami Khedira, but he’s very talented and has the potential to be even better than his German compatriot.
The only reason he didn’t make it into Germany’s World Cup squad was a thigh injury that he picked up whilst training back in May. It was most unfortunate, but not to be helped.
He’s made 17 appearances for the German international side and has managed to find the back of the net 4 times. That’s an impressive return for a holding midfielder. Still, he’s better known for his energy, drive and tough-tackling. In that sense, I’m sure he’d quickly become a fan favourite at the Emirates.
So here’s hoping that Wenger opts to re-ignite his interest in the young German. It could be a deal that rounds-out a fantastic summer of spending.
What’s your take? should Arsenal snap up Sami Khedira or Lars Bender? Who’s the better option?
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Lars Bender will be a fox in the Box for Arsenal.
With all due Respect to Sami Khedira, his style of play is not quite the achetypal Arsenal.