by Lewis Ambrose

Arsenal have been linked with Lars Bender and the transfer window of summer 2015 can officially be declared open.

Arsenal being ‘in for German midfielder Lars Bender’ is one of the most recurrent transfer rumours of recent years and is back again.

Bender, of Bayer Leverkusen (not to be confused with his twin brother, Sven, of Borussia Dortmund), is considered a key player at Bayer Leverkusen and that isn’t likely to change next season. Christoph Kramer will rejoin the club after a loan spell at Borussia Mönchengladbach but Leverkusen are losing midfieders Simon Rolfes and Gonzalo Castro to retirement and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Despite winning 19 caps for Germany, Bender hasn’t featured for the national team in the last two squads and didn’t go to last year’s World Cup with Kramer called up in his place.

Last season Bender played in 26 Bundesliga games, captaining the side on 17 occasions, and has experience in the Champions League.

This time around Arsenal are said to be ‘lining up‘ a bid.

The Sun say that the bid we are lining up is in the region of £18M. According to German newspaper Bild the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder has a release clause of €15M – roughly £11M.

Those reports quite obviously don’t match up with each other.

Chances

What are the chances of a deal actually happening this time around?

Bender is a good player, but his all-action style may not suit an Arsenal team that looks to calmly dominate possession.

Arsène Wenger is, however, considered a long-term admirer and Bender could be an option if the Arsenal manager can’t secure a deal for one of his more preferred targets.