Arsenal Transfer News: Sami Khedira Should Lead List of Midfielder Targets

If football clubs were popular internet memes, Arsenal would be #FirstWorldProblems. A club that consistently is among the best in England and qualifies for the Champions League every year is also a club that always seems to evoke ire and desperation from a group of supporters that doesn't feel like they should end any season as the bridesmaids, not the bride.

Never is that more true than during a transfer period. Arsenal are perhaps the only club in the world that could completely nail the transfer window (Alexis Sanchez has been brilliant) and completely botch it at the same time (no defensive midfielders or defending depth?).

Adding some quality players to the team's spine seems a primary goal this winter, of course, with holding midfielder a key need.

And among the players that Paul Doyle of the Guardian humorously highlighted as Arsenal targets at the position, none would be a finer addition than Sami Khedira:

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We are actually talking about Sami Khedira. Again. But if Wenger gets fed up pursuing that German, he’ll go after a different German. Perhaps we should be more specific, because we wouldn’t want you to go around thinking that Wenger intends plugging the hole in his midfield by recruiting Heidi Klum. Or Nena. So the other German we were referring to is Christoph Kramer, currently of Bayer Leverkusen.

There are also suggestions that Wenger will resurrect his long-standing interest in Yohan Cabaye, who is usually a substitute at Paris Saint-Germain and, like most French people, is believed to be interested in a move to London. Everton hope that James McCarthy is not.

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Khedira would be asked to play a more holding role at Arsenal, but he would be asked to play that role in the most Arsene Wenger-y way possible, a la still making driving runs forward and fitting into the game finesse, quick-passing philosophy.

Khedira is certainly a player technically gifted enough to provide both a physical presence and a playmaker's sensibility. 

Christoph Kramer and James McCarthy could provide the former. Yohan Cabaye could provide the latter. Khedira, if he accepts a deeper role, could ideally provide both.

There are issues when it comes to Khedira, of course. His potential wages. His injury history. His habit of driving up field as a box-to-box player, a role Aaron Ramsey currently fills for the Gunners. Khedira would have to be a bit more cautious with his runs at Arsenal, to learn to curb some of his attacking instincts as Mikel Arteta did when he was asked to embrace the role. 

But he would also give the club an engine in the middle of the field capable of blowing up an opponent's attacking play with his tenacity and physicality. The fact that he could quickly turn any turnover into an incisive pass or driving run forward makes him the ideal fit for Arsenal's open, attacking system.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Of course, Wenger will never publicly admit that this club needs help. In fact, he thinks he has the pieces in place to win a title in the next few years

He told Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph:

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We have not started very well, but we never had the squad together since the start of the season.

It was a post World Cup start typically. I think we have what is requested to do it. We have to fight like mad now to come back as much as possible to show that we can compete in every single game.

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They have to fight like mad, yes, but what would really be mad would be failing to bolster the squad in January. Just ask the Arsenal supporters.

The lack of a true defensive midfielder and proper defensive depth might be considered #FirstWorldProblems, sure, but when the manager advertises to an expectant fan base that he has the squad in place to win titles and the results on the field suggest otherwise, well, that's a problem no matter how you slice it.