Arsenal: Sami Khedira makes as much sense as Stephan Lichtsteiner

Arsenal just bolstered their midfield with Dani Ceballos, so forgive me for giving a hard ‘no’ to the rumors that Sami Khedira may be next in line.

There are certain names that just never go away. Arsenal get linked to them throughout the course of history and it just never happens. Sami Khedira is one of those guys and, true to form, he’s back with a brand new link to the Emirates.

The 32-year-old has always been highly regarded, and provides a strong midfield presence. Of that no one should have any doubts. And just two years ago he fired home a career-high nine goals, so his age is clearly being kind to him, at least in some capacity.

But considering buying him is one of the worst ideas of the summer. Right up there next to Wilfried Zaha and the unending saga that is.

Khedira is the exact same thing as Stephan Lichtsteiner, just in the midfield. He’s a guy past his prime, that will be fairly cheap (not even free) who will be a stop gap until a more long-term solution presents himself.

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But the problem is exactly what we saw with Lichtsteiner. Keeping up with the pace of the Premier League is no small feat. You have to be in pique form, and Khedira isn’t. Mainly because Khedira never was.

Check out his injury record. If you think “that’s not so bad,” that’s because you’re only on the first page. He has only ever played 2000 minutes twice in his extensive career. Some years he played as few as a couple hundred minutes.

Consistency is what this team needs right now. We need reliability. Someone that we can count on to do their job. Khedira may have the ability, but he has never had the health, and that’s what makes him a gamble not worth taking.

Not to mention the fact that our midfield is actually in really good shape. Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira combined for some tremendous outings last year. Some of our best matches came when they were the midfield three. Why you’d want to tamper with that beautiful trio of youth and experience and tenacity and creativity is beyond me.

Not to mention we have Joe Willock too.

I get that we need help, but let’s not overthink this. Focus on what we actually do need, not just things that seem like a good idea in the moment.