Arsenal Fail With £19.7m German Midfielder Bid But Wenger Should Push For Fellaini

With the summer transfer window now open, there is plenty of gossip doing the rounds in the newspapers so we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest transfer rumours. Today, Arsenal fail with record bid for Bender.

Arsenal have failed with a record £19.7million (€23million) bid for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender, according to the Mirror.

A new central midfielder appears to be on the cards this summer with boss Arsene Wenger presumably looking to replace the injury-plagued Abou Diaby, and it seems we’ve now stepped up our interest in Bender with an official bid.

The Mirror cite reports coming out of Germany that claim we’ve tabled a huge £19.7m offer, but Leverksen have immediately rejected the bid by insisting the 24-year-old is not for sale at any price.

Bender has emerged as one of the most highly-rated midfielders in the Bundesliga after some excellent display’s at the heart of Leverkusen’s midfield. Since joining from 1860 Munich in 2009, he’s gone on to make over 150 appearances for the first team and has also broken into the German international set up, earning 14 caps so far.

He’s contracted to the club until 2017 so Leverkusen are under no pressure to sell, and after seeing Andre Schurrle join Chelsea and with right-back Dani Carvajal off to Real Madrid it seems they don’t want to lose any more important first team players this summer and are therefore refusing to do business for Bender.

If true, this is another sign that Arsenal mean business this summer and are prepared to pay big transfer fees to sign top drawer players. I’m a huge fan of Benders but if it’s going to take a bid in excess of £20m to land him, I think we’d be far better off going paying the £23m required to sign Marouane Fellaini.

The giant Belgian has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent weeks but reports suggest Arsene Wenger wont pay his £23m buy-out clause. However, for similar money it would be sensible to go for the player who’s got plenty of Premier League experience under his belt, in my opinion.

So while I admire the apparent move for Bender, I say lets trigger Fellaini’s release clause and get him in ASAP!

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What do you think Gooners? Push the boat out for Bender or pay £23m for Fellaini? Get involved in the comments section below.