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Pires: Gunners need Khedira

Cape Town - Former Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires believes that purchasing Sami Khedira could help the Gunners win the English Premiership title.

The north London outfit have been strongly linked with a move for the Real Madrid midfielder who has found himself on the periphery at the Bernabeu.

Pires feels that the German could prove to be the missing link for Arsenal, with Arsene Wenger's side missing a hard-tackling midfielder in the mould of former skipper Patrick Vieira.

"[Wenger] needs a big player in the middle - like Viera, strong, tall - because this position is very important for the balance between attack and defence," said Pires.

"The quality is there [for Arsenal to challenge], but you need more. Maybe they have an opportunity with Khedira in the January window. He played very well with Germany.

"My advice is that if he can buy Khedira he can be the Vieira [figure], [providing] more aggression in the middle.

"He has a lot of experience. When you play in the middle you need experience, especially when your midfield is young like Arsenal's."

Khedira is out of contract at the end of the season, and as such it is believed that a bid of £10 million could be enough to tempt Madrid to sell in January.

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