With Thomas Vermaelen completing the move to Barcelona for an estimated amount of £15 million, Arsenal find themselves precariously short on numbers in the central defensive area. With Laurent Koscielny a doubt for the opening game of the Premier League and Per Mertesacker yet to gain full fitness, new boy Calum Chambers is the only first team defender who is fit enough for the curtain raiser against Crystal Palace. With the sale of Thomas Vermaelen, the need for a centre back at Arsenal has become a must. With a little over 15 days until the summer window shuts dowm, we here at Soccersouls propose three possible alternatives for the departed Arsenal captain.
Bressan:
The Gremio man was chased by Arsenal during the early part of the summer transfer window and now with the situation becoming so desperate for the position of the centre back Arsene Wenger might very well take a punt on the youngster from Brazil.
Bressan is rated very highly in Brazil and can potentially be a great back up to the pair of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny without disturbing the established hierarchy of the German-French duo. If Arsenal do get Bressan, that will mean that the status-quo will remain in place for the position of central defenders at the North London club. Standing at 6’1”, Bressan is a cultured technical defender, who can seamlessly fit in at the Emirates as he is comfortable with the ball in possession and can start the attacks from the back.
Joel Veltman:
With Arsenal known for their interest of Ajax defenders in the recent past (Thomas Vermaelen and Jan Vertonghen are two recent examples who come in mind) this transfer can very well happen. A member of the Netherlands squad under the tutelage of Louis Van Gaal, he is another player who would fit perfectly as the back up option for Arsenal as this player from Ajax would not mind playing second fiddle to the more established pair of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
The Dutch defender is someone who is known for his tackles and positional sense and if called upon will do a fine job of filling in the place of either of the first choice center backs and would certainly give new signing Calum Chambers a run for the money to be the club’s third choice defender.
Daniel Agger:
This is one transfer which might look really unlikely on the face of it but if reports are to be believed Daniel Agger to Arsenal is definitely a possibility. With Daniel Agger a surplus at Liverpool, a good enough bid might just tempt Liverpool to sell their want-away defender. With the huge experience that Daniel Agger has in the Premier League he will no doubt instantly improve the Arsenal defence and will be a real threat to the Mertesacker and Koscielny partnership. While it seems unlikely that Liverpool would sell to a fellow Premier League rival, a formal transfer request from the player might just do the trick in the end.
These are the three choices that we think Arsene Wenger can consider very seriously during his search of a replacement for Thomas Vermaelen. Do let us know whether you think there might be some other central defender Arsenal can make a move for in this transfer window.
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