Arsenal Transfer News: Latest Rumours on Edinson Cavani, Sami Khedira and More
Arsenal aren’t exactly a club in turmoil, but the pressure on manager Arsene Wenger to invest heavily in his squad in January is growing by the day.
There’s a fine line between success and failure at the highest level, and the upcoming transfer window is there for managers to make the necessary tweaks to get things right as the business end of the Premier League rolls around.
While the Gunners are blessed with a star-studded squad from back to front, they remain desperate for world-class reinforcements in key areas of the pitch. Here are three big names rumoured for a January move.
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Every time there’s a transfer window, Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani’s name seems to do the rounds, although an end product is always lacking.
This time around, it’s Arsenal who reportedly have aspirations of signing the Paris Saint-Germain forward, with a colossal bid planned for next month, per Jamie Anderson of the Daily Express.
Anderson writes that the Gunners are preparing to part with £50 million to get Cavani to north London, and while the rumour has been rubbished of late, recent developments suggest it’s becoming plausible.
According to Spanish reports, via Anderson, PSG manager Laurent Blanc has made his peace with Cavani heading for the Parc des Princes exit door sooner rather than later.
That’s not due to the Uruguayan failing to impress, but the financial benefits that would come from his sale could well be too good to refuse.
PSG have had the constraints of Financial Fair Play hanging over them for some time now, but the Gunners’ millions would see Blanc finally able to experiment in the transfer window once again.
However, is Cavani really the answer to Arsenal’s problems?
Watching the 27-year-old’s highlight reel is great; he appears the complete striker in every sense. But the fact remains that he’s incredibly wasteful once you close the YouTube tab.
He’s proved as much this season, too, with WhoScored.com’s statistics showing that he’s been guilty of missing a great deal of chances:
Arsenal’s front line rather handles itself, with players from midfield being the real danger to opponents. All Olivier Giroud or Danny Welbeck have the job of doing is being in the right place at the right time.
Heading back, though, the Gunners need some work, starting with a defensive midfielder.
Sami Khedira
German World Cup winner Sami Khedira has been linked with Arsenal for some time now, but it could finally be time to accept that he’ll never wear the famous red shirt.
The Gunners tried with all of their might to sign the apparently unhappy Khedira in the summer with his Real Madrid contract approaching its expiry, and January looked like presenting another chance to lure the midfielder to the Emirates.
However, the 27-year-old has now admitted that he’d be happy to remain with the Spanish champions in an interview with Stuttgarter Nachrichten, despite the fact game time is at a premium with the star-studded Real, per Ben Burrows of the Daily Mirror: "If we can reach a solution, I’ll be very happy. I'm confident that soon I will get more of a chance to play. There are other players in my position but that competition is healthy.”
So, it appears that Khedira is going nowhere in January, but manager Carlo Ancelotti has opened the door to a move in the summer should he fail to extend his Bernabeu deal.
Speaking with Carlos Forjanes of AS regarding the rumours of Khedira moving to Arsenal, Ancelotti said: "I’ve heard nothing, they’re just rumours. He’s our player, at least until June 30.”
Come June 30, if Khedira hasn’t signed an extension with Real Madrid, he’ll have the pick of his suitors—ranging from Bayern Munich and Chelsea to Arsenal.
The problem is for the Gunners that Bayern and Chelsea will reduce the appeal of a move to the Emirates by offering astronomical wages—thus blowing them out of the water.
There’s no doubt that Arsenal need a defensive midfielder to give them a boost in the middle of the park, but Wenger is better off focusing elsewhere for fear of wasting more time.
Winston Reid
Ask a crop of Arsenal fans what they need in January, and the majority of them will tell you that signing a top-class defender should be the main priority.
The Gunners have struggled for consistency at the back this season, and it seems that West Ham United’s Winston Reid may well be the solution.
As John Cross of the Daily Mirror reports, the New Zealand international is out of contract at Upton Park at the end of the season, so Arsenal will launch a January bid to tempt a sale out of their London rivals.
West Ham are likely to slap a big price tag on Reid, but Arsenal will put a cut-price offer on the table with the risk of letting the defender go for free looming over the Hammers’ shoulders.
It’s difficult to imagine many identifying Reid as the ideal player to come in and shore up the Arsenal back line, but ESPN’s Janusz Michallik disagrees.
He points out in our exclusive video that January is a time for bringing players in that know the league and are settled—a criteria that Reid fits:
If Wenger wants the 26-year-old, then he’s quite simply there for the taking—and at a bargain price, too.
James Dickenson of the Daily Express writes that the Gunners will look to bring Reid in for just £4 million, which is a top price even if the defender is only used for cover and in the occasional cup match.
Is he the man to turn Arsenal around? The same old issues would remain should Reid make the switch to north London, and while his signing could be a bargain, that money is better off going towards a world-class star.
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