Benzema + Bender Among Targets As Wenger Eyes £100m Spree After Signing 3-Year Deal

As we approach the opening of the summer window clubs will be intensifying their efforts in the transfer market so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Gooner Mac brings us news of Arsene Wenger’s summer plans as he looks set to commit his future to the club.

Arsene Wenger is set to sign a new three-year contract at Arsenal and is targetting moves for Karim Benzema and Lars Bender as part of a £100m summer spending spree, according to reports today.

The Frenchman led Arsenal to the FA Cup on Saturday to end nine-years of frustration in North London and now it seems he’s ready to finally commit his future to the club and embark upon a new era of success at the Emirates.

The Telegraph are one of several newspapers to report that Wenger has agreed a new three-year contract – not the initial two-years that many had expected – worth £7.5m per season, and he’s set to put pen-to-paper within the next 72 hours.

The fact that Arsenal bosses have decided to reward Arsene with a three-year deal and not a two-year or even a one-year rolling contract shows the belief they have that he is still the right man for the job, despite the unrest among some sections of supporters at times over the past 12 months.

The board are also ready to back the boss in the transfer market with the newspaper claiming that Wenger will be given a £100m transfer kitty this summer, with a striker and central midfielder understood to be his main priorities.

It’s clear we need to bring in another front-man to offer serious competition to Olivier Giroud next season and the Telegraph suggest that Karim Benzema and Mario Mandzukic are our top targets, while Wilfried Bony is also believed to be under consideration.

Benzema would certainly be my pick of that trio but he’s also likely to be the most expensive and most difficult to buy. If the Real Madrid man isn’t available, I’d go for Bony over Mandzukic as he’s enjoyed an excellent debut season in the Premier League after scoring 25 goals for Swansea in all competitions.

Mikel Arteta has been a great servant for the club over the past three years but his influence is fading and I think for us to be serious contenders for the title next season we need to bring in a proper defensive midfielder and the report states that Wenger has already made enquiries over Lars Bender and Javi Martinez.

We were strongly linked with Bender last summer and he’s continued to impress for Bayer Leverkusen this season but Martinez would be an idea signing if we could manage to strike a deal with Bayern Munich. The Spaniard hasn’t been a regular under Pep Guardiola so could be available if the price is right, but we’re likely to face some serious competition for his signature if the Germans decide to cash in.

It’s gearing up to be a busy summer as a goalkeeper to replace Lukasz Fabianski is going to be needed as the Pole is set to leave when his contract expires next month, while another right-back will be required should Bacary Sagna also decided to end his stay at the club.

Arsenal are due to hold final talks with the Frenchman’s representatives this week in a bid to finally come to an agreement over a contract extension, with the 31-year-old rejecting our latest offer of a three-year extension worth £90,000-a-week.  If no solution can be found and Sagna leaves, it’s understood Wenger has lined-up Southampton youngster Calum Chambers or Toulouse defender Serge Aurier as potential replacements.

I still have faint hope that we might come to an agreement with Sagna as he’s going to be an extremely difficult player to replace. He’s been one of our most consistent performers over the past five seasons and his versatility has also been a valuable asset.

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It’s certainly been a great few days to be an Arsenal fan and it looks like exciting times are ahead with Arsene set to commit his future to the club and he appears to have ambitious plans in the transfer market.

Who would you like to see Arsenal sign this summer? Share your views below.