Arsenal Plan Cut-Price Move for Former Chelsea Striker - Report

Arsenal are planning a January bid for former Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou, according to the Daily Mail.

The Ivory Coast international has asked his advisers to look for interest in the Premier League, and the Gunners who are in the market for a striker are firmly in the driver's seat for his signature. The 28-year-old has a release clause of £2.5m in his contract with Lille and is desperate to move out of Ligue 1 where he hasn't been able to settle in.

Arsene Wenger was interested in the striker last January but the player refused to agree to a pay cut which scuppered the move back to the England capital. However, with time slipping by, Kalou is likely to agree to Wenger's stipulations and make himself available for Arsenal's title charge. The north London club currently have Olivier Giroud to lead the line but should he have an injury, the Gunners have to fall back on Nicklas Bendtner who has failed to hit the ground running with his cameos.

The Gunners are also waiting on news from Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski who were out for much of this season with an abdominal tear and a hamstring injury respectively. A return from the sidelines for either will give Wenger some much-needed options in the attacking department, which is looking tired after a series of high-profile games in the league. Kalou is likely to be a stop-gap solution for the Frenchman who is sure to go back in the summer for high profile targets in the form of Luis Suarez or Karim Benzema whom they failed to secure last summer.

The Gunners have finally managed to reach their potential this season and are currently top of the league with 25 points, two ahead of Liverpool and boast one of the best midfields in Europe with the likes of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla. A proper back-up to Olivier Giroud will assuage the fears of a burnout and make them proper title challengers.