Despite spending heavily on a world class winger, Alexis Sanchez, many Arsenal fans believe Arsene Wenger has made a big mistake by not signing one top central defender in the summer. The right back issue was addressed by signing Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle United, while versatile young defender Calum Chambers joined from Southampton. Still, you feel, they haven’t done enough to replace Thomas Vermaelen who joined Barcelona.
Per Mertesacker and Laurent koscielny are the two main centre-backs for the Gunners, and if either of them or both gets injured, Arsenal do not have enough replacement in place. Most importantly, Wenger doesn’t have this option to replace them, even if they’re playing poorly. He doesn’t have this option to drop someone based on form.
It remains to be seen Wenger at all buys any defender in the January transfer window, but going by the media reports, the Frenchman wants to buy a central defender and has targeted Celtic’s dutch defender Virgil van Dijk who could cost around £10m. The deal may likely to happen as Celtic are seemingly more concerned with profit from player sales (signed Van Dijk from FC Groningen for £2m in 2013) than on pitch achievements.
And who doesn’t want to play in a better league? Van Dijk says he is happy at Celtic but won’t rule out a move as Arsenal are a big and an amazing club.
“Arsenal are an amazing club,” he said as quoted by The Telegraph. “It’s a big club with a great history but so are Celtic and I’m very happy here just now. I just want to play well and we will see what happens in the future. There are stories but until there are bids I can’t say anything.
“I have ambitions but Celtic is an amazing club with a lot of history.There is no rush to leave but you never know in the future.”
He is only 23 and could be a good back up defender at Arsenal. Should Arsenal sign the defender? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments section.
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