So fellow bloggers, even before Chambers’ unfortunate injury, it was thought that AFC would dive into the market to improve the CB position…Arteta kinda confirmed it in his post-match interview and rumour has it that he had made 2 demands to the board before accepting the job: one CB and one DM.
Here are the profiles that have been mentioned on the blog:
1) We need someone who is a no nonsense defender and knows the PL. Ideally someone who is good defensively but can also pass the ball “OK”. Names that have been floated around include Ake, Mings, Dunk, Diop and Tarkowski.
2) We need a proven and recognized international defender, someone in the league of “Van Dijk, Ramos and Bonucci”. There are not many out there but people have mentioned Koulibaly, Skriniar, Manolas, Ruben Dias and Umtiti.
3) We need a dynamic and upcoming defender that will lift our defense’s energy, is good at playing from the back and is strong physically. Names include Upamecano, Mukiele, Konate, Pau Torres and Djene.
4) We need to add experience and calm to our back four so we should look into Boateng and Martinez.
5) We do not want to impede Holding, Mavropanos, Chambers or Saliba’s development so we should take a strong player but not break our bank nor take a confirmed star but just someone to complete our squad. Names include Rugani, Izzo, I.Martinez among others.
So which type of defender would you like us to pursue? What type of money would you like us to spend MAX for your preferred type of player and who would be your preferred recruit and why?
RC78
Arsenal News 24/7
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Thank you RC78 for the post. We have certainly been unlucky with injuries to defenders … par for the course over recent seasons.
The word is that Saliba is the real deal so I feel that we don’t really need to buy a young dynamic CB as next season they’ll be tripping over each other.
What’s up with Mavropanos? Will Holding reach his potential, will Chambers come back stronger? These are all very young CB’s, plus Saliba, that we have pinned our hopes on for the future. We’re probably stuck with Mustafi until the summer.
I get the feeling that Arteta will be careful in his selection so as not to upset the dynamic of the team ……. although obviously is we could afford a Van Dijk type that would be great.
Basically I’m sitting on the fence 🙂
Nice one (again!), RC 👍
It’s no secret, I’d love Mings… to see him paired with Saliba next season would be amazing, they’re both giants!
Unfortunately though, this is just a pipe dream. As I can’t see Villa letting him go. They paid in the region of 26.5m for him, so would want at least double (maybe more) and do a Palace – put potential buyers off!!
Still 3 weeks of the window left, maybe we’ll bring someone in, even if it is a loan! Or we might have to just make do, until the summer 🤔
I’m stoked right now, just managed to get a ticket for the Sheff Utd game! Woohoo!!!
I wouldn’t mind any of the no 1’s , don’t think we can afford any of the 2’s I am more or less with peaches sitting on the fence
Thanks RC, I think we’re close to rock bottom as far as defensive options go. As it stands we will probably be OK with what we’ve got – but one more longer term injury to a defender or if we sell Mustafi then there would be a problem.
I’d be happy to take Boateng until the end of the season if Mustafi goes.
Am more keen on option 5 if we get a good deal a d can get rid of Mustafi… Otherwise option 1 for me is the way forward and if we have tons of cash, then option 2
Either Matthias Ginter (a CB who can also play DM; age:25; from Mönchengladbach and a German international; a World Cup winner) Or Jonathan Tah (a CB; age 23; from Leverkusen and a German international), more likely in the next summer window than this winter window. Ginter has more than 200 club appearances in the Bundesliga with SC Freiburg, Dortmund and Mönchengladbach while Tah has more than 100 club appearances with Hamburger SV and Leverkusen.
Both are international teammates with our GK, Bernd Leno, while Tah was also his former teammate at Leverkusen. They would be the longer term replacements for Sokratis, Luiz (both in their 30s) and Mustafi (all three with around 1 1/2yrs of their contract with our club remaining). Either one of them should be partnering one (in a back 4) or two (in a back 3 or back 5) of Holding, Chambers, Saliba or Mavropanos at CB.
Hi JM so you are going with Option 5. I do not mind Ginter or Tah but Tah still makes many silly mistakes so I suppose Ginter would be more my cup of tea out of the two.
I think we should let Mavropanos go out on loan ASAP and also sell Mustafi this winter if possible. They are not playing very much so we might as well try to cut our losses…
Thanks RC,
I think we would all like a £80m VVD or Kompany in their prime to arrive, but I don’t think this is possible right now. Despite the great promise for the future under Mikel I am very much taking the line that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I think we should look at Klopp’s arrival at Liverpool, how they developed, what they added and when, and the upward trajectory they took till they started to hit peak last season. Our anticipated blueprint ought to be similar.
Firstly I don’t think we can spend the big amount on CD right now, but it might be in the budget in a future TW as our main big spend, but also I would have thought that some of the viable options for top (in their prime) defenders are closed now in this TW, as clubs and players don’t want the upheaval in mid season, but will be open from the summer TW.
If we are to go big then I think it would be better done when more options are available, so I tend to feel that an available experienced top defender (moving into their twilight) would be the most sensible option right now, even if not the most ideal solution longer term. We are not necessarily all about ideal solutions right now.
I think option 4 and 5 kind of merge into each other and would go with option 4 (and one of the 2 names mentioned) but for the reasons stated in option 5. This would all depend on either Boateng or Martinez still having the legs for football at a high level for a season or 2, and we would have to trust the scouts and others behind the scenes that they know what they are getting.
In their prime both Martinez and Boateng would be a shoe in so we just need to ensure they are still up to it. Which one though? The basic stats on both are almost identical. Both are 32 in September and both are 1.92M and are big units with not much between them in weight.
Boateng feels more the out and out CB to me (although I will stand corrected by you RC) while Martinez has been both a CB and holding midfield player. My question would be does Martinez lack anything on Boateng as a CD? If the answer is no then I might plump for Martinez because of that extra ball playing ability he accrued under Pep when he moved him into the base of the midfield.
Firstly this may suit Arteta ball more, in bringing it out from the back, and secondly it could even give us another holding midfield option.
I like the idea of having 2 senior experienced CB’s in Luiz and Martinez (with additional senior back up from Soc), and then letting Holding regain form and match fitness with less stress.
Luiz and Martinez should easily be able to continue giving us senior high level options at CB until the end of the 20-21 season. Then we have a bit more time to assess Holding, Saliba when he comes in, and how Chambers comes back. The £80m CD can then be thought about possibly as late as the following summer.
Even if it is not quite as perfect as we would want our central defensive options to be in the longer term, can we really say that this season we cannot win the EL and/or or F.A cup, and progress up the EPL towards top 4 with a CD that boasts Luiz, Martinez, Holding and Socratis? Add the highly rated Saliba next season and get Chambers back fit and that CD should be good enough to make a far better fist of the EPL and ECL (if we get in it), before assessing a big spend on a CD.
If it is out there the team needs a player with speed of thought and movement without being reckless. A tall order ( another useful attribute) but our scouts need to earn their wages
ESR has gone to Huddersfield then, till the end of the season. Good luck!!
Good news for ESR, look forward to seeing how he gets on.
Anyone fancy writing the pre-match for tomorrow?
I will leave the honours to a fellow blogger this time around 😛
Good Evening, dear friends,
Very interesting ideas and suggestions re: CB options, or perhaps wishful thinking.
Alackaday — the issue of Xhaka has been left to fester, me fears, and it is potentially far more grievous than errant CB stoppers.
Arteta says he wants Granit to stay – he sees him as being special, he sees him as galvanising the central midfield.
I said above, there may have been an element of wishful thinking included in the interesting comments from AAers viz a vis their CB hopes, so maybe it is catching, as Mikel seems to have a slight dose of the same affliction.
There is no doubt that Xhaka can look fine, playing some exquisite cross field passes — and therein lies his only speciality.
What he does have, in spades is an ability to lose his marbles and race around like an arthritic tortoise/ape cross pulling shirts, pushing opponents, taking out ankles because he cannot hope to tackle speedy opponents fairly, and is a candidate to give away fouls, in or around our penalty area, and relies on the referee to feel sorry for him, or is afraid to set him off on another haranguing confrontation, and for whichever reason, amazingly overlooks what we can all clearly see are the deranged antics of a man who should never wear the Red and White of Arsenal.
I behoves me to admit that when we first were told Xhaka had been signed, and indeed when he showed some net breaking shots at goal, and revealed his aggressive, argumentative persona, I felt a tickle, nay a tremor of love for the man.
At the time, we had a flaccid, wimpish aura surrounding the team, who were too often bullied off the ball, or cravenly surrendered possession to opponents who had learned we would not stand up and be counted.
Yes, I thought he might be the one to change all that.
It must have been love, but it’s over now.
He seemed all that I wanted, but now I’m living in doubt.
It must have been love, but it’s over now – there must be another, and on a Winter’s day, I still dream away.
Thank you, Roxette – loved that song!! 😩
Sue, you said, “I’m stoked right now” which by deduction must mean you are happy??
And you also said, “Hurrah” a day or two ago, when I last blogged — who is that — is it your posh way of referring to the ensorcelled Prince Hurrah?
I would like to nominate two people who the wit and the art to analyse the possibilities of an early kick off, like two secretaries wearing exceedingly high stiletto shoes, and can deal out a tasty dish of a pre-match essay — step forward, GB and Sue.
You can either collaborate your efforts – and OK throw in the camel too – or have a wrestle, with the winner elucidating the pro and cons of the coming game.
Get to it guys! 😡
Koulibaly or Up for me following pressure on Kroenke until his lips squeak, to get his wallet out!
lips? Pips, pips, pips….predictive text!!!
No — it’s definitely his lips that squeak! 🙄
“Mikel plans to turn Granit Xhaka into the midfield mastermind Arsenal have always needed”.
A six-million dollar man- like transformation may be needed first, Mikel!!!
Hello RA.. Very happy indeed, nothing gets past you, does it?! 😝😂
Nah, not Prince Hurrah (could that be another pseudonym of yours 😜). I thought you’d buggered off for the foreseeable, so was happy you’d replied 😁
A wrestle with GB?!! He wouldn’t stand a chance 😂😂😂 His camel might though!
Sue,
😁😳😛
Good morning all
We have a New Post and a game very soon 😉