Emirates Stadium side set to bring in fifth high-profile signing of the summer.
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Arsenal are closing in on a deal to sign long term target Sami Khedira after Real Madrid accepted the north London side’s £23m bid for the German international.
Though previous attempts to complete the deal to bring the 27 year old to the Emirates Stadium have stalled over the midfielder’s wage demands it is believed that the former Stuttgart man has accepted a compromise offer that will see him receive a salary in the region of £125k a week.
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Arsene Wenger is tirelessly working to bring in a strong tackling holding midfielder who can replace veteran Mikel Arteta and after his initial push for Khedira collapsed the French boss turned his attention to Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin but has been encouraged by recent discussions with Khedira’s representatives.
Khedira’s close friendship with national team colleague Mesut Ozil may well prove a motivating factor, as would presumably the presence of German internationals Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker, and a move could be completed imminently.
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti is keen to balance the books after investing around £100m in the signings of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos, from AS Monaco and Bayern Munich respectively, and given that Khedira missed much of last season and has just a year to run it appears that Arsenal’s £23m offer has proven too good to turn down.
Bayern Munich are also said to be interested though Real Madrid are ready to sell to Arsenal as the Bundesliga side are said to be looking to Khedira to run down his deal to complete a free transfer switch in the summer of 2015.
Khedira moved to Real Madrid in July 2010 and has made 144 appearances for the Bernabeu side and played a key role in Germany’s 2014 World Cup triumph, though missed the final through injury.