The Sami Khedira flirtation was fast and furious, but like many torrid love affairs, it appears it may have burned too hot to burn long. According to a report in the Express, Khedira's (agent's) wage demands - upwards of £150,000 a week - were too high and didn't appear likely to drop to a more manageable level, and so the deal is off. This is, of course, totally different from what Khedira's agent said and what Sport said. It is, though, pretty much exactly what Kike Marin was saying a few days ago, so I guess we can chalk up one more to him if this ends up to be true. Arseblog News rates the rumor as it presently stands at eight poos, which is "close to peak poo." So take that as you will.
A few sources have us moving in on a more-than-capable replacement option, though sadly Mr. Marin won't be as much assistance there. That's because it's a Frenchman playing in the Premier League - the one and only Morgan Schneiderlin, of Southampton.
We've done pretty well in the past with signings coming from Southampton, so I wouldn't be at all upset by this. The only problem is that the sources are a bit...shaky. We have Express mentioning him in that same story as "among those admired by the Arsenal manager," which really doesn't mean all that much. The Mirror says Schneiderlin is "now apparently being considered as an alternative," but their source is also that same Express article.
And then you have Wayne Veysey of Goal. He's going a lot farther than the rest.
Arsenal have opened preliminary talks with Southampton over a move for Morgan Schneiderlin, Goal understands...There is also interest from Arsenal in Bayer Leverkusen's Lars Bender but the club regard Schneiderlin as a more realistic target. Goal has learned that the Gunners rate the 24-year-old in the £15m bracket, while Southampton value him at around £18m.
So what's the problem here? Well, Veysey isn't the most reliable reporter in world soccer. He gets some right, but he's typically the first to report things in large part because he tends to report things that are less sure. That doesn't mean this is necessarily total bollocks, but it also doesn't mean any of it can be taken as gospel.
Personally, I hope this is true. I'd like Schneiderlin a lot, and honestly think he'd probably fit today's Arsenal better than Khedira would. And he'd do it for less money, which doesn't hurt. But until someone with a slightly better track record has this story, I wouldn't start making your Welcome To Arsenal Morgan compilation videos yet.