Arsenal Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Karim Benzema and Serge Gnabry

Arsenal are looking to rekindle their interest in Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and are readying a £40 million offer for the French international.

Spanish outlet Merca Futbol (h/t Liam Corless of the Mirror) reported that Arsene Wenger sees the player as the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle in his squad after being consistently linked to the Blancos stalwart.

Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is said not to be prepared to sell Benzema, but "such a valuable offer would be too much for the European champions to turn down," per Corless.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

According to Kike Marin of Spanish outlet El Confidencial (h/t Uche Amako of the Express), Wenger was prepared to sign the Frenchman, as Los Blancos considered the capture of Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich. However, Zidane stuck by his compatriot and Lewandowski remained in Bavaria this summer.

The 28-year-old was once again influential as Real scooped their 11th European Cup trophy in the UEFA Champions League. The attacker scored 28 goals combined in La Liga and Europe in 36 appearances, according to WhoScored.com.

Tom Bassam of the MailOnline reported Benzema has been working out in "an electro-stimulation suit" in order to recover from a recent injury, thrusting his way back into the first-team picture.

The player showed off his training aid on social media:

In other Gunners news, Wenger has revealed Serge Gnabry was close to sealing a new deal to remain at Arsenal before leaving for Werder Bremen on deadline day for £5 million.

Discussing the player's exit on Facebook Live in a Q&A session with BT Sport (h/t Sean Kearns of Metro), the manager gave details of Gnabry's last-minute transfer to the Bundesliga:

"

We did not want to get rid of Gnabry. We wanted to keep him.

But he was in the last year of his contract and we were very close to extending his contract.

He changed his mind and went to Werder Bremen. I think we helped him a lot and if you asked him the question, he would certainly come out and agree with that.

"

Arisson Marinho/Associated Press

Gnabry appeared destined for a stellar career in north London, but the German Olympian failed to make the breakthrough at the Premier League level, unable to claim a regular first-team berth.

The attacker remains a phenomenal prospect, but regular games in the Bundesliga will help him produce a more rounded performance on the pitch.

At 21, the forward has many years ahead of him. If he starts to improve, he might become one of the great young players that got away from the English giants.