Arsenal Linked With Bender + Gundogan As Wenger Plots Double Swoop

The January transfer window may have slammed shut but clubs will still be working hard behind the scenes at identifying targets for the summer, so we’ll bring you all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Gooner Mac brings us news of a potential double swoop by Arsenal.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is planning to bring in a new right-back and a central midfielder this summer with Lars Bender, Ilkay Gundogan and Callum Chambers all on his radar, according to the Daily Mail.

The report claims that Wenger wants to bring in a long-term replacement for Mikel Arteta at the end of the season and Bender is his number 1 target having failed to land the German international last summer.

The 24-year-old has continued to impress at Bayer Leverkusen this season and Wenger has had his scouts compile a detailed dossier on the defensive midfielder ahead of another bid to try and lure him to the Emirates.

Should Leverkusen refuse to sell, the newspaper suggests that Ilkay Gundogan is also under consideration but the feeling is that Bender will be the easier to acquire as there is a long list of top clubs fighting for the Borussia Dortmund ace.

Arteta has been steady this season but he’ll be 32 soon and I think we could benefit from some added pace in the center of the park, and either Bender or Gundogan would be superb additions, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring one of them to north London this summer.

Gundogan is probably the more established of the two as he’s been playing in the Champions League with an excellent Dortmund team in recent years, but we’ll do well to win the race for his signature so Bender is the more realistic target.

The Mail claim that a new right-back is also on the agenda this summer with Bacary Sagna looking likely to leave when his contract expires, and Southampton’s Callum Chambers is being watched extensively by the club.

The 19-year-old has recently broken into the Saints first team and has been hugely impressive, but I’m not sure he’s anywhere near the level of Sagna just yet, so I’d prefer we look at a more experienced name.

We already have Carl Jenkinson so another youngster will unbalance the squad a little bit. The report does suggest Man City’s Micah Richard’s is another player Wenger is watching, and I think that would be a more astute buy if we could pull it off.

Richard’s is a boyhood Arsenal fan and, like Sagna, he could also cover at centre-back when needed so if we could persuade City to sell to a rival, I think this would be a great move.

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