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Arsenal ‘Closing In’ On £22m Benzema After Ozil Endorsement

By on November 11, 2013

Arsenal are closing in on a £22m deal to sign Karim Benzema from Real Madrid in January, according to reports today.

Arsene Wenger has been a long-term admirer of the French strikers and we were once again strongly linked with a move for the former Lyon hitman in the summer after missing out on Luis Suarez.

The Liverpool striker remains on Wenger’s radar as he looks to boost our title push with the acquisition of a world class forward in January but the Mirror claim Wenger feels a deal for Suarez is going to be difficult to pull off and we’re now close to agreeing a deal worth £22m for Benzema with Mesut Ozil apparently giving a ‘ringing endorsement’ to the boss on his former team mate.

The 25-year-old has struggled at Real Madrid this season and has been jeered by some sections of this own support leading to widespread speculation that he’ll be on the move this winter.

However, the newspaper suggests that Madrid will only sell Benzema to us if they can sign Suarez for £50m – which kind of makes the whole thing seems unlikely as I really don’t see Liverpool agreeing to sell their star man mid-season. Particularly if they are still challenging for the title or top four at that point.

So we might have to wait until the summer to land Benzema, in which case we could be looking for a short-term option in January.

There were reports of interest in Chelsea’s Demba Ba over the weekend and he would be a good loan option if we could get him. Ideally we can sign someone like Benzema, but if not getting Ba in on loan for the rest of the season would be a good piece of business.

Who would you like to see Arsenal sign in January?

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