Arsenal In Talks Over Signing £18m-Rated French International

The summer transfer window is now open for business and it’s expected to be a busy few weeks as managers strengthen their squads ahead of next season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Gooner Mac brings us news of Arsenal’s interest in Morgan Schneiderlin.

Arsenal have opened talks with Southampton over the potential signing of Morgan Schneiderlin after failing to agree terms with Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, according to reports.

Arsene Wenger has been on the look-out for a long-term replacement for Mikel Arteta this summer and the likes of Schneiderlin, Khedira and Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender have all been touted as potential targets.

Widespread reports this past week have claimed we’ve been in contact with Real Madrid about a £20m deal for Khedira but the move stalled over the German international’s excessive wage demands.

It appears Wenger has now moved on to other options with Goal claiming that we’ve opened talks with Southampton over a potential deal for their highly-rated midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin.

The French international has just come off the back of an excellent season where his superb displays in the middle of the park helped the saints to an eighth-placed finish in the Premier League table.

The report suggests that we are willing to pay around £15m for the 24-year-old, but Southampton value him at nearer £18m and we’re likely to have to stretch that far if we want to lure him to the Emirates as the South Coast club are expected to play hard-ball after seeing Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Luke Shaw all leave this summer.

However, the player himself could push for a move as Schneiderlin has previous hinted he’s ready to take the next step in his career and play at a higher level, fuelling speculation that he could be set for a move to north London to play in the Champions League.

“I’ve been there for a long time now,”

“We’ll see how things go, but the directors know my position and what my intentions are.

“Everyone has ambitions, everyone has his own future in his hands, so we’ll see. Every player wants to play on big occasions.” Schneiderlin is quoted as saying by Goal

It remains to be seen whether we’ll be able to find an agreement with Southampton but I personally hope we can as Schneiderlin would be an excellent addition to the squad and give us a real protection in front of the back four that we’ve missed in recent years.

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While he doesn’t have the big-game experience of someone like Khedira, he knows his way around the Premier League and no defensive midfielder had better stats in England that the Saints man last season, so I’d be delighted if we were able to bring him to the Emirates this summer.