Wenger To Submit Midfielder Bid This Weekend & Make Late David Villa Move

With the January transfer window now open for business we’ll be keeping you up-to-date with all the latest transfer gossip. Today, Arsene Wenger still hopes to land duo.

There may still be hope of some arrivals this month Gooners with the Mirror reporting that Arsene Wenger will submit a bid for Mohamed Diame this weekend before making a final push to try and land David Villa.

Despite the fact the boss insisted at his Friday press conference that he wasn’t interested in either player, the Mirror understand that Wenger remains keen on bringing the duo to the Emirates before the window shuts next Thursday night.

The newspaper claims we will make a final offer to West Ham this weekend for midfielder Diame – who has a £3.5m buy-out clause in his contract – and it’s suggested the player would be keen on a move to Arsenal despite announcing his commitment to the Hammers on Friday.

I must admit I’m a little confused as to why the Mirror believe we’ll ‘submit a final bid’ when we could bypass the negotiation stages by simply slapping a £3.5m bid on the table and trigger his release clause. If we are going to ‘submit a bid’, it must mean Wenger is trying to get the player for less than his buy-out fee, which is a sad state of affairs really. Wenger says he wants ‘top, top, top’ quality players. If Diame fits that criteria, surely he’ll be a steal at £3.5m and he’d jump at the chance to trigger his release clause?

I’ve been crying out for a defensive midfielder to be bought this month and while I’m not convinced Diame is the ideal candidate (is he strictly a defensive midfielder?), at this stage of the window I’ll take him.

The Mirror also claim we’ve not given up hope of luring David Villa to north London this month and suggest the boss will make a late move to try and persuade Barcelona into selling the 31-year-old. The report says that the Spanish striker has given us enough encouragement to suggest he wants a move so Wenger is hopeful of striking a deal with the Catalans before the end of the month.

Villa was an unused substitute for Barca’s Copa del Rey clash with Malaga in midweek and it can’t be fun for a player of his quality to be sitting on the bench. Let’s put him out his misery and give him some game time at the Emirates. I pray we manage to get this deal done as he would be an excellent addition to the squad.

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With less than a week to go before the window closes, we don’t have long to wait until we find out if Wenger signs anyone or not. God help him if he doesn’t.

Would you like Diame and Villa to come to Arsenal? Get involved in the comments section below.