According to a report in Catalan paper Sport (mirrored both by Metro and Arseblog News), Arsenal are nearing completion of the transfer of midfielder Sami Khedira from Real Madrid. One of the more important steps, the agreement of a fee, is supposedly complete - Sport says Arsenal would pay £23 million for the German international.
Even if true, though, there's still work to be done. Metro claims Khedira is looking for a wage of around £150,000 a week, which is likely higher than Arsene Wenger will want to pay. If one side or the other caves, though, most of the major hurdles would be cleared.
While both Aidan and I have gone on record as preferring other targets for the "defensive/holding midfielder" position, I will say that if this deal were to go through, I'd celebrate it. It's really hard to turn up one's nose at a player who was just a key cog in a World Cup-winning team, and Khedira's pedigree is class. It would be a second major acquisition, after last week's capture of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona. And with less than a year left on the player's contract, and reports that he doesn't feel "valued" by Real Madrid, the smoke around this transfer could soon turn to fire. And yet this could also be his camp pressing for that new contract, so we'll have to wait and see.
Things do appear to be gathering steam, though.