Arsenal Transfer News: Arsene Wenger Must Alter January Policy for Sami Khedira

Sami Khedira is expected to experience great change in 2015, and with his Real Madrid contract winding to a close, Arsenal would be smart to launch a full-scale assault in January, rather than wait until the summer.

The Daily Star's Nick Lustig writes that Khedira is allegedly "desperate" for a north London switch this winter, and with interest in his signature bound to be high, Arsene Wenger will have a fight on his hands to land the midfielder.

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In the past, Wenger has made no secret of his disdain for the January transfer market, opting to get as much of his business done as possible in the summer months rather than rely on mid-season changes.

At the start of 2014, the Frenchman labelled this opening a "distraction," per the London Evening Telegraph's James Olley, which might work against Arsenal's chances of luring Khedira next year:

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The transfer market is a distraction that, for me, is not welcome. I think it would be much better if there was no transfer market at all in January and teams started and finished with the same players. [That] would be fair unless you have big injuries.

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Arsenal don't have any big injuries to speak of, per se—or at least none that might warrant use of his "emergency" theory—but the need for reinforcements in the core of his side is nearing the critical threshold.

Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC quotes Los Merengues boss Carlo Ancelotti, who confirms that Khedira is set to return to Real's first team in the weeks to come:

Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta are currently sidelined through injury while Jack Wilshere has just come through his own scare, and if the club is to have any genuine dreams of challenging for a Premier League title, more is required.

That's not just in reference to numbers, either. This isn't a shortage of players merely capable of lining up in that central role as Mathieu Flamini and Santi Cazorla showed they could during a 4-1 hammering of Galatasaray.

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Rather this is about acquiring a deep-lying specialist that the Gunners have been yearning after for some time now, a player with everything the aging Arteta brings but on a much more potent level.

After all, for all the stellar form Ramsey displayed while fit last season and the unrealised potential of Wilshere, Arsenal don't have a genuine, reliable superstar in their engine-room ranks, and they haven't for some time.

Nemanja Matic is showing at Stamford Bridge what can be achieved by a player of his rounded acumen, surrounded by others more extravagant than he, but by all means as essential a cog in Jose Mourinho's machine.

One would think such would be capable for Khedira, too, were he to move to the Emirates Stadium, a missing piece to their puzzle, but of course one wouldn't be so cliche as to suggest he solves their woes single-handedly.

Norwegian pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft cites Spanish newspaper Marca in suggesting Real may yet extend the World Cup winner's deal, while Paul Clennam of Goal.com says Manchester United are also in for a January swoop:

Leaving the prospect run until next summer would be hazardous for Arsenal to say the least. In free agency, Khedira would be able to dictate his wages to a much more extravagant degree, and the list of sides likely to open up to him risk blowing the north Londoners out of the transfer waters.

It may not be something Wenger is at ease with, but even the Premier League's longest-reigning manager is capable of learning new tricks, and splashing for Khedira's skill set this winter would be an opportune moment to start.