Emirates Stadium side look to sign central midfield reinforcements.
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Arsenal have set their sights on a pair of German internationals as Arsene Wenger continues to pursue top talents with the aid of a hefty transfer war-chest according to the Daily Mail.
Wenger is keen to bring in a central midfield option, preferably with a view to adding some much needed steel to the centre of his Gunners line-up.
His first target is Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan, though it is feared that the 22 year old is in advanced talks with Bernabeu side Real Madrid. The former Bochum and Nuremberg battler has had two excellent seasons in Jurgen Klopp’s first team and was a pivotal performer in the side’s Champions League run, starting eleven of their 12 fixtures in the competition.
If the North London club fail to lure Gundogan to the Premier League then they will switch their attention to Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender.
Bender has been a model of consistency over the course of his four seasons in the Bayer Leverkusen first team set-up and the box to box performer was a key member of Sami Hyypia’s side who secured a top three finish in the Bundesliga in 2012/13.
Now a regular in Joachim Low’s national team set-up Lars Bender may feel that a high profile move to Arsenal could aid his push for a prominent role in the 2014 World Cup finals.
It may well assist in Wenger’s push for the rangy midfielder that his squad includes two of his national team colleagues, namely Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski.
A push for central midfielder signings may well be down to the fact that Wenger is yet to adequately replace Alex Song, who left for Barcelona last summer, and could also be attributed to French international Abou Diaby once again being hit with a long term injury.