It’s going to be like this till the end of the transfer window: Every day, at least two or three new transfer targets Arsenal might be interested in, with the latest names being Karim Benzema and Angel di Maria of Real Madrid.
According to the BBC, Arsenal are more interested in the French striker, and might be willing to offer £40 million for him. Maybe last season it would have been a better idea to bid for Benzema, who felt unhappy about battling for a place in the lineup with Gonzalo Higuain. But Higuain is gone, and now there doesn’t seem to be much doubt about the identity of the Real Madrid striker.
Angel di Maria is a little less sure of his standing at Real Madrid, at the moment being used as someone that comes off the bench for either Mesut Ozil or Isco, bringing in something very different and a bit more of pace down the flanks.
He has been unhappy at Real Madrid for a while, but it mostly had to do with Jose Mourinho. Real Madrid paid £29 million for Di Maria in 2010, which means Arsenal will have to pay more than that for him. Wenger is looking for a left winger, but it seems Di Maria is his second option among the Real Madrid players, and might turn to him only if his bid for Benzema is shot down.
Another problem for Wenger, the biggest one, will be Real Madrid’s willingness to let go of one of these players. There don’t seem to be any plans in place to bring in a new striker to the Santiago Bernabeu, which means Benzema is quite valuable to the team at this stage of the season. Di Maria might be a bit easier to replace or simply see leave, and yet it seems Wenger is chasing windmills once more, going after targets it’s close to impossible to get.