It would appear as if Arsenal has now given up their pursuit of Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira after the World Cup winning player demanded wages that would have seen him become the highest paid player at the club.
The 27-year-old was asking for £150,000 per-week before bonuses that would have put him well above current top earners Mesut Özil and new signing Alexis Sanchez who are both thought to be on £130,000 per-week.
With the move for Khedira now off the Daily Mirror is suggesting that Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will set his sights on Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender who would be considerably less expensive and at only 25-years-old younger than Khedira while still having the international pedigree after having amassed 17-caps for the German national team since his debut in 2011.
Santi Cazorla has in recent weeks been linked to a move back to Spain with Atletico Madrid said to be the interested club, and with speculation mounting that he was on his way the 29-year-old Spaniard spoke out about the talk while pledging his allegiance to Arsenal saying: “I’m happy here, I want to play for Arsenal for more years. Of course, next year I play for Arsenal.”
