Arsene Wenger is set to break open the chequebook one more time.

Wenger has already bucked his frugal trend by splashing the cash on mercurial star Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona and Bacary Sagna replacement Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle to put the current spend at £48million.

That too couples with last summer’s £42.5million investment in World Cup winner Mesut Ozil, and it is an international teammate of his who supposedly tops The Professor’s wishlist for the remainder of the summer.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender is supposedly available, with a valuation of around £16million placed upon the 25-year-old who has 17 caps for his world-dominating national side.

The news of Wenger’s interest peaked after talks over yet ANOTHER German international looking to make the move to London fell through. Sami Khedira, who looks certain to pack his bags and leave Real Madrid, saw his contract demands snubbed after his £150,000 demand was capped at £135,000 by Arsenal.

So Bender, who has over 120 appearances for Leverkusen, has emerged as the frontrunner in the search for a solid defensive midfielder. Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin was also a favourite for a long time, with his valuation matching Bender’s £16million.

He would join Ozil, along with Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Serge Gnabry in the Gunner’s German contingent.

OGC Nice’s Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina is set to join the club this week in a £4million deal, while Wenger himself has ruled out another attacking option, leaving a centre-half and a defensive midfielder in need.

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