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Arsenal have failed in a €23million (£19.7million) bid for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender, according to reports in Germany.

The 24-year-old Germany international is contracted to the Bundesliga side until 2017, and having sold right-back Dani Carvajal to Real Madrid and Andre Schurrle to Chelsea this summer they are reluctant to lose any more first-teamers.

The bid, reported by Express.de, would break Arsenal's transfer record, something expected to happen several times over this summer after

Bender signed from 1860 Munich in 2009 and has amasssed nearly 150 appearances at the BayArena.

The Sunday Mirror's Matt Law