For the current depressed mood a lot of our Arsenal fans in the Football Transfer Tavern are in, a lot would be solved in the eyes of many by the club managing to pull off a swoop for Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
Linked with a Gunners switch all summer long, the French international still represents a player who will prove incredibly difficult to attain but despite this, the Daily Star recently referenced the reports of a Venezuelan presenter who claimed the Frenchman was already flying in for an Arsenal medical recently.
While Arsenal fans are looking to clin onto far more concrete evidence of a switch than that, some are claiming that there’s no smoke without fire and as we’ve seen with modern day transfers, the more a move gets talked about via social media and what have you, it seemingly spirals into the category of getting done.
Arsenal fans will hope this is the case with Olivier Giroud having endured a nightmare first appearance of the season against West Ham United on Sunday, fluffing many chances and doing nothing to convince Gooners that he can successfully spearhead their attack in a title challenge this term.
That said, pretty much every Arsenal player bar Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain flattered to deceive in their Premier League opener causing many Gooners to claim that another defensive midfielder and centre back are required, let alone Benzema’s potential arrival.
With this in mind, we’ve devised a list of five players who could end up following Benzema to North London in the remainder of the transfer window.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 Arsenal transfers waiting to happen after Karim Benzema’s arrival.
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Lucas Silva
The Twittersphere blew up yesterday when news of one Real Madrid player who is not Karim Benzema broke regarding a potential Arsenal transfer.
The news surrounded Los Blancos star Lucas Silva who despite only joining Real in January from Cruzeiro, has only played nine times for the Spanish giants while struggling to break the midfield stronghold of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
With Porto previously described as a viable loan destination for Lucas, it is now Arsenal who are being linked with his signature amid the fans’ cries for back-up to Francis Coquelin in the defensive midfield position.
With Arsenal players made of paper compared to the rest, not to mention the fact Coquelin plays in the engine room, susceptible to potential injuries and yellow cards, when he inevitably gets injured, both Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini aren’t considered good enough back-up.
Lucas Silva is undoubtedly a talented defensive midfielder and to be honest, Arsenal fans would like to see any half decent DM arrive to the club right now.
Alessio Romagnoli
A few days back, Metro claimed that Arsenal were in pole position to complete a deal for exciting young Roma centre back Alessio Romagnoli.
Having played at the European Under-21 Championships this summer, Romagnoli has received some valuable experiences so far despite his 20 years and has already chalked up 13 appearances in Roma’s first team.
Rated at around £25 million, AC Milan represent the biggest threat to Arsenal in their pursuit of the Italian but with Gunners fans crying out for another defender with Per Mertesacker’s worth to the cause being questioned yet again, we wonder whether Arsene Wenger is thinking along the same lines.
Thiago Motta
With time ticking down very quickly now to the end of the summer transfer window, we’re starting to see a few left-field targets being linked with Premier League switches.
One of these rumours concerns Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Thiago Motta who has reportedly put both Arsenal and Liverpool on red alert after a switch to Atletico Madrid fell through.
On the bench for PSG in their season opener against Lille with young talent Adrien Rabiot taking his place, it appears the Italian international’s time in Ligue 1 is about to come to an end and although Arsene Wenger usually opts against signing players over 30, perhaps having missed out on many midfield targets, he’ll conclude a panic buy such as this.
If Francis Coquelin were to pick up an injury or suspension prior to the start of September, we could see Wenger making something of a panic swoop for somebody like Motta having not gone in for the likes of Geoffrey Kondogbia and Morgan Schneiderlin this summer.
Julian Draxler
Make no mistake; Julian Draxler is a player Arsene Wenger admires.
After all, the Gunners came close to signing the German international in the January transfer window of 2014 and with the Schalke man talented, yet injury prone, surely this a player still right up Arsenal’s street?
According to The Mirror who referenced Tuttosport recently, they sensationally claimed that Arsenal were keen on concluding a double swoop for both Draxler and German international team-mate Mario Gotze in a deal worth a whopping £86 million.
Lets be completely honest about it; would Wenger really splash this kind of money on a squad he already admits is pretty much complete in his eyes?
What is far more likely is that if either Draxler or Gotze are available right up until the final hours of the window shutting, this calibre of player may be too good to turn down for a club like Arsenal.
With Draxler keen to further his education elsewhere and Gotze not a starting eleven pick right now, they could easily both be on the move and with these players sometimes considered as forwards for the German national team, Wenger could end up utilising them as false nines.
Mario Gotze
As talked about on our previous slide, Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze has been the other big name German international to be linked with an Arsenal switch of late.
Despite scoring the goal that won Germany the World Cup in Brazil last summer, the former Borussia Dortmund man is still not considered an automatic pick under Pep Guardiola at the Allianz Arena and the player has reportedly been hinting at a switch away from Bavaria all summer long.
Right now, Arsenal boast an abundance of attack-minded midfielders in the Gotze mould and it could be argued he faces a similar uphill task to break into the Gunners’ ranks at the moment.
Nevertheless, Gotze is a fantastic player and with somebody of this calibre who can operate as a forward, we don’t think any Arsenal fans would be complaining too much if he was holding up the Gunners jersey alongside the red and white scarf.
