Emirates Stadium side look to tempt Saints into selling French battler.
Arsenal are ready to step up their interest in Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin with the north London side preparing two potential offers for the French international.
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Gunners boss Arsene Wenger sees the 25 year old as the ideal player to offer his side some much needed steel in the centre of the park with Mathieu Flamini, Abou Diaby and Mikel Arteta the only viable options in this regard in his Emirates Stadium squad.
Ideally Wenger would like to bring in Schneiderlin in the January transfer window and is readying a £20m bid for the St Mary’s star but understands that such a move is unlikely to succeed with Southampton ready to fight to keep hold of the former Strasbourg man as Ronald Koeman looks to maintain his side’s excellent start to the season.
Failing such a switch Wenger will look to tempt Southampton into a sale next summer and is ready to then foot a similar cash bid whilst offering the choice of two potential additions in the form of player exchanges.
Carl Jenkinson is currently on loan at West Ham but once his spell at Upton Park is complete Arsenal are willing to offer the full-back to the south-coast side on a permanent basis and will also make Costa Rican international Joel Campbell available in a similar cash plus player deal.
Wenger is confident that Morgan Schneiderlin will push for a Southampton exit come the end of the current campaign unless Koeman can secure a top four finish.
Schneiderlin had attempted to secure a Southampton exit over the summer but having lost a myriad of talents the St Mary’s side felt they couldn’t afford to lose another of their first team regulars.
Southampton signed Schneiderlin in June 2008 and he has played a key role in taking the club from League One to he upper reaches of the Premier League.