It’s been nine and a half years since Patrick Vieira was sold to Juventus in order to let the career of Cesc Fabregas flourish. They did have Gilberto Silva back then, though the Brazilian departed in 2008 and in the ensuing six seasons since, Arsenal are arguably yet to get their hands on a proper defensive midfielder. They have lacked a physical presence in the midfield, someone who is disciplined defensively and capable of shielding the back four effectively.
When Arsene Wenger joined Arsenal in 1996, Vieira and Emmanuel Petit were amongst his first signing. Both were strong, tall midfielders who dominated the midfield with their athleticism and power. During his rise as a manager with Monaco where he won the French league, reached the European Cup Winner’s Cup final in 1992 as well as the Champions League semi-finals two years where they lost to eventual champions AC Milan, he had the likes of Marcel Dib, Petit and Jean Philippe Rohr with important roles as his engine room.
The present batch of players include just two players who can play at the base of the midfield once you exclude the perennially injured Abou Diaby. Mikel Arteta too has had his season blighted by injuries so far and has completed 90 minutes in all competitions just twice. The 32-year-old regardless is not your typical tenacious midfielder who breaks up play though he has adapted to his deep lying playmaker role quite well since joining from Everton. Mathieu Flamini meanwhile is error prone and tactically unaware at times, and it was quite apparent during the 2-2 draw at Anfield when he was a mere bystander as Liverpool bossed the midfield. True it was also down to tactics, but Flamini was brought back from Milan as a stopgap signing rather than a long term solution.
With their plethora of attack minded, diminutive technical midfielders, Arsenal could really do with a quality defensive midfielder. They have been linked with a host of such players, though the inability to sign one has been confounding. To sign a central defensive midfielder was always the priority at the start of the summer and the search will continue into the January transfer window.
The prominent names include
Yaan M’Vila, 24 (on loan at Inter) – Rubin Kazan
Grzegorz Krychowiak, 24 – Sevilla
Jordan Veretout, 21 – Nantes
Tolgay Arslan, 24 – Hamburg
William Carvalho, 22 – Sporting Lisbon
Morgan Schneiderlin, 25 – Southampton
Sami Khedira, 27 – Real Madrid
Lars Bender, 25 – Bayer Leverkusen
Krystian Bielik, 16 – Legia Warsaw
Moussa Sissoko, 25 – Newcastle United
Sami Khedira, 27 – Real Madrid
Verdict:
Wenger has spent around 280 million pounds for transfers since he last splashed out for a proper defensive midfielder in Lassana Diarra in 2007 though the Frenchmen was shipped on just five months later. Having spent vast sums in recent times, £42.4m for Mesut Ozil and £32m for Alexis Sanchez in the past two summer transfer windows, the Professor must surely realise the need to bring in reinforcement for a position which has been vacant for way too long now. Arsenal have been incredibly susceptible to counter attacks in recent years and players like Schneiderlin, Carvalho and M’Vila would plug the gaps as well as provide solidity to the back four.
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