Arsenal Transfer News: Gunners Won't Pay Karim Benzema Money for Edinson Cavani

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger may have been ready to spend big to bring Karim Benzema to the Emirates Stadium earlier in the window, but he is not willing to splash out the £50 million it would cost to sign Edinson Cavani, according to reports.

That’s according to Adam Crafton of the Daily Mail, who suggested that while Wenger is interested in the Paris-Saint Germain striker, given Cavani’s age, the club are unlikely to part with such a substantial amount of money:

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The possibility of Arsenal signing Cavani is waning. There is extreme reluctance at the club to pay the £50m asking fee for a 28-year-old.

Arsene Wenger's top target all summer has been Karim Benzema and is unwilling to spend the budget on players he does not consider to be as good.

However, Arsenal were made aware early on that Real Madrid had no plans to sell and so although much energy and discussion has gone into alternative options, none have been deemed sufficient value or quality.

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Gunners supporters have been calling on the club to spend big money on a quality No. 9 all summer, but with the deadline edging closer, the prospect of a world-class forward operating at the point of the attack for Arsenal is a slim one.

Cavani is a player who would definitely fit the bill, although signing a player in his peak years for such a substantial amount is not something Wenger typically does. The Frenchman loves to get value out of his transfers, although in the short term it means the Gunners are unlikely to get the forward they need that’ll underscore an immediate title charge.

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As noted by Oliver Holt of the Mail on Sunday, the lack of a quality goalscorer means they are unlikely to challenge for the top honours again:

The PSG man would have been a cracking addition. In among Arsenal’s meticulous passing and silky dribbling, Cavani is a much more forceful and direct presence. At the point of the attack, his work rate, hold-up play and cute movement would have given the team and everyone else associated with the Gunners a big boost.

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Here’s how the Uruguay international compared to Benzema in league matches last season, per WhoScored.com:

	Benzema	Cavani
Apps (Sub)	29	30 (5)
Goals	15	18
Assists	10	1
Shots per game	2.4	3.3
Key passes per game	1.6	0.9
Dribbles per game	1.1	0.9

But at this juncture, any striker would give Arsenal fans a boost. Miguel Delaney of ESPN FC doesn’t think that a world-class operator is necessary either:

Perhaps Delaney is doing a disservice to the likes of Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck, but there’s no denying that the quality up front doesn’t quite stack up to the rest of the side. Arsenal have world-class providers in Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey, but with a top quality forward, they aren’t getting the best of their cerebral talents.

After making a stellar acquisition early on in the window when landing Petr Cech, there would have been Arsenal fans hoping for a window of massive prosperity. But a talented team seems set to go beyond another transfer deadline short of the finished article.