Arsenal
Arsenal Line-Up £37.5m Double Raid
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is ready to make a £37.5million double swoop for a defender and a striker when the window opens in January. Find out who he wants.
Although the summer transfer window is officially closed that doesn’t stop clubs working hard behind the scenes to prepare for future signings, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest gossip. Today, Arsenal are linked with a double swoop.
Arsenal are ready to make a £37.5m double swoop for Manchester City defender Micah Richards and Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema this January, according to the Daily Star.
The report claims that boss Arsene Wenger has revived his interest in £10m-rated Richards due to the continued doubts over the long-term future of current first choice right-back Bacary Sagna. The 30-year-old Frenchman is in the final year of his Gunners contract and is yet to agree terms over an extension so could walk away from the club for free in the summer.
This has left Wenger eyeing potential replacements and it seems Richards – who’s a boyhood Arsenal fan and is struggling to oust Pablo Zabaleta from the right-back spot at the Etihad – could be the man for the job if Manuel Pellegrini agrees to cash in.
A striker is also understood to be a priority for the Premier League leaders with Wenger heavily reliant on Olivier Giroud up front and another striker this winter would ease the load on the former Montpellier man during the second half of the season.
The Star claim the north Londoners are set to step up their interest in Benzema – who Madrid value at around £27.5m – with the 26-year-old enduring a difficult campaign that’s seen him jeered by sections of his own support this season.
Benzema has 18 months left to run on his current deal at the Bernabeu and would provide some much-needed competition up front if Wenger was able to lure him to the Emirates in January.
These two new additions would certainly add some depth to the Arsenal squad which would boost their title chances, but both deals are going to be tough to pull off.
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