There is doubt that Arsenal need some serious backup in defence in January, and Arsene Wenger has already admitted as much at the annual AGM as our usual lengthy injury list has decimated the squad.
We all know that Wenger is not keen on spending money in the winter transfer window so the news that Celtic’s 10 million-rated centre-back Van Dijk is one of our top targets, but we could also use a new right-back to provide in depth backup for the rest of the season.
According to the Express, Wenger is “desperate” to secure the services of the highly experienced Switzerland wing-back Stephan Lichsteiner in January to head off competition from both Chelsea and Real Madrid.
Lichsteiner has been a regular at Juventus for the last few years, but with his contract expiring next summer the Spanish giants will have to sell him in January or allow him to leave for free at the end of the season. Obviously Wenger will not be keen to offer fortunes in those circumstances, but the 30 year-old could offer heaps of top-class experience to our defence as the season goes on.
Lichsteiner has already made an appearance in the Champions League for Juve so will be cuptied for us if we progress further in the competition, but there will be enough League and FA Cup games for the Swiss defender to be used in rotation with whoever else happens to be fit at the time!
Who agrees that Lichsteiner is worth a small investment in January?
Experienced to us may not mean the same thing to us that it means to Wenger. To us it means spent some years as a good quality CD. To Wenger it may mean someone who has spent some years as a CD but not great quality. Remember Squillaci and Silvestre?
I hope I’m wrong
to be fair with wengwr, both of them had solid careers until they joined us.
actually i wanted to be fair with wenger but my comment sinks him a Little more hahaha
Is it a joke?
He did sign Squillaci and Silvestre, who were supposed to be backup.
Easily forget he also bought good CBs in Campbell, Toure, Gallas, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Chambers. Even Vermaelen is great until he got a bad injury and lost form. We do make profit on his sale btw.
Don’t forget Santos!
We already have a 29 year old Debuchy why would we go and get a 30 year old Lichsteiner?
We are a joke. Need a fresh start ..
clean house like Hafiz has been saying?
Lichtsteiner is a bad idea. I know in Italy you see the toughest defenders in the world but the speed on how things happen in Serie A is nowhere near the EPL. So yes, for set pieces, static and positional attacks he is good but not to the direct and fast football that is played in the EPL. EPL wingers will break his spine in the first game.
Never heard of Lichsteiner. Is he good?
Lichtsteiner???? Who writes these crap articles based on every rumour out there. Admin i we deserve to read some quality articles!
i guess we could’ve talked about the Capital One, but we suck and got ourselves knocked out of it already.
You have lots of quality articles, but some people actually enjoy reading transfer rumours. Enjoy the ones you like and let others enjoy what THEY like.
We believe in equality on JustArsenal mate…..
no one enjoys rumours articles. Get over it.
Lol! Can’t believe some folks still take transfer rumours very personally.
I remember the last time a “30 year old experienced defender” was brought to Arsenal… do you remember? 🙂
I remember there used to be a guy call Paul on this site sometime ago. He would feed us with all manner of transfer rumours and claim they were authentic. Sometimes he’d say the deal is as good as done, what’s left is for the player to just pass medicals.
Then arose another guy whose name I’ve forgotten. His guy too would claim he had reliable sources. Then he and Paul will clash and start calling each other fake.
Well, there were others too, but Paul used to be the major maestro. Then came our very own Leo.
Well, no disrespect to anybody (including Leo), when it’s just a rumour, plz explicitly say it’s a rumour u got. Otherwise, quote the source. I’m just saying all this becuz I find transfer talks pertaining to Arsenal tortuous. Too many BS rumours and everyone of them is said to be from “reliable sources”.
nice recap thx, i never knew Paul or the other, only Leo. (i am too new in here i guess)
But Leo has been commenting on a lot of stuff except rumours of transfers lately haha
@Gigi2, u are very welcome, pal! Very welcome!!!
I don’t mean to exaggerate, but this is just one of the best sites exclusively for Arsenal fans, particularly the crazy ones.
Here we have the good, the bad and the ugly. Don’t worry, I’m quite sure u’d luv it here.
You’ve been on here for a while like me.
So are you one of the few people that realises Hafiz Rahman is actually trolling when he post his comments and hes infact an AKB and hes against Spending in football because of all the poor countries or some sh*t like that.
@Th14, funny…
Lichtsteiner?For what?Did he have a bank in Switzerland where Wenger can put our club money to be safe from spend?I think Micah Richards can help us alot for RB and same for England nationat team.This is the way I see the thinks,I’m not from UK,I’m far from UK but I am a Gunner.
Were not desperatr yet but we are one red card or sprained ankle away from there…
We are not actually too weak in defence. If we just get 1 class defender like Hummels then sparing injuries we are good
RB – Debuchy Bellerin Chambers
CD – Hummels, Koscielny, Mertesacker (Small teams), Chambers, Hayden
LB – Gibbs, Monreal (He is good this year)
Also a DM would do like carvalho
If all fit
Schesney
Debuchy Hummels Koscielny Gibbs
Carvalho Ramsey
Walcott Ozil Sanchez
Welbeck
Rumor. Even if it wasn’t, Chelsea and Real Madrid like to spend their money. We don’t. So goodbye 1000th-linked Arsenal defender. On to the next one that we won’t get.
We have Debuchy, Chambers and Bellerin. We don’t need Lichtensteiner.
Just a TOP quality, experienced CB, DM and striker.
OT: Note to Wenger: Burnley played extremely well against Everton. Unlucky to lose. The attack and straight forward passing will have Mert overworking. Please do NOT take this game lightly!
I can’t believe I am writing this and for such an opposition like Burnley; How times have changed for AFC!
if i were the new manager i’d sweep the house clean first..then pick some few valuables from the debris and burn the rest. This team…its very weak relative to the top European clubs with a similar stature and financial muscle. VERY WEAK.
competitors are fielding talismen in the shapes of ramos,JT,Kompany,mehdi benatia..we field per mertesacker…
they field matic,toure,modric we field flamini and arteta
they field aguero,costa,ibrahimovic,messi we field giroud
these are the FEW PLAYERS i’d pick from the debris for my first 11:
ALEXIS SANCHEZ
MESUT OZIL
AARON RAMSEY
THEO WALCOTT
LAURENT KOSCIELNY
then my bench:
SANTI CAZORLA
DANNY WELBECK
DAVID OSPINA
JOEL CAMPBELL
ALEX CHAMBERLAIN
CALUM CHAMBERS
…..the rest i will set ablaze using flamini as the matchstick.
from the selection above you notice we do not have:
STRONG FULLBACKS
A CENTRE BACK
A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER
A CENTRE FORWARD…
if you arrive late for training..no match for you
every one should run like mad when we don’t have the ball. i need it back in 11 seconds.
if you have space to shoot but you choose to pass you get benched for two matches because I HAVE QUALITY PLAYERS WHO WOULD SHOOT ON MY BENCH.
our players don’t give a toss how they play because they know: NO ONE CAN DISLODGE ME FROM MY POSITION CAUSE NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ME IN THAT POSITION ..
Personally two young CB would be great, we already have two experience center halves which could be paired with a young CB to share defensive duties at the back.
Chambers and Hayden can be developed as DM, which i feel both are good candidates,, with hayden being my choice , tall, strong, technically good and has good pace. its also a position that both should be given more time in to develop not only for club but also country. I think its arsenal and englands Kryptonite.
it would be great if were trying to bring in Grzegorz Krychowiak, now our manager had the opportunity to get him earlier for 3.5 million now he is worth 24 million , not looking at that but this man is what i would call the ultimum DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, strong , aggressive, has good pace, good height, good technical skills, has great positional sense and a lethal right foot. It would say to us finally the RIDICULOUS MANAGER IS LISTENING TO THE FANS, PLAYERS, MEDIA AND EVEN IS OPPONENTS, but its only rumours, but only one of many i wish was true
I dont think we need another right back, worse still a 30 year old right back! That wont be fair to Chambers, Bellerin and Jenkinson!
“Arsenal desperate to sign experienced international defender in January”
Is that coming from Wenger himself?
I won’t be surprised, if all our injured are back, Wenger goes on to say that “I have a strong squad and we don’t need anybody else” or “We will bring someone if we can find quality”…!!
We know the drill, business as usual…
I would like to remind you that Arsenal has 24 scouts around the world (source: L’Equipe and France Football) paid £500/week each… That is where the fans hard earned money is going and for useless purposes since we don’t by anybody.
Any fool can see Sanchez, Ospina and Ozil are great players… You don’t need a scout to tell you that, just watch your tv.
The fact is, those scouts are doing their job and reporting findings to the manager, but the “massive” problem we have, is that Wenger has the last word on any transfers and wages (unbelievable and unseen except here).
Like Ian Wright said “Why is he not spending? He is acting like it is his own money”
Well, he does not mind the astronomical salary (£8millions/year… F*cking joke!!) gracefully served by the club and for very little in return…!!
I know I am repeating myself, but it is unacceptable, stone wrong and inadmissible that a manager earning so much and with the support he receives from Arsenal football club as well as the fans, cannot deliver (understatement) trophies, major trophies, on a regular basis…
We should be like Bayern Munich, for God sake !!!!!!!!!!
“Arsenal desperate to sign experienced international defender in January”
Is that coming from Wenger himself?
I won’t be surprised, if all our injured are back, Wenger goes on to say that “I have a strong squad and we don’t need anybody else” or “We will bring someone if we can find quality”…!!
We know the drill, business as usual…
I would like to remind you that Arsenal has 24 scouts around the world (source: L’Equipe and France Football) paid £500/week each… That is where the fans hard earned money is going and for useless purposes since we don’t by anybody.
Any fool can see Sanchez, Ospina and Ozil are great players… You don’t need a scout to tell you that, just watch your tv.
The fact is, those scouts are doing their job and reporting findings to the manager, but the “massive” problem we have, is that Wenger has the last word on any transfers and wages (unbelievable and unseen except here).
Like Ian Wright said “Why is he not spending? He is acting like it is his own money”
Well, he does not mind the astronomical salary (£8millions/year… F*cking joke!!) gracefully served by the club and for very little in return…!!
I know I am repeating myself, but it is unacceptable, stone wrong and inadmissible that a manager earning so much and with the support he receives from Arsenal football club as well as the fans, cannot deliver (understatement) trophies, major trophies, on a regular basis…
We should be like the German biggest club, for God sake !!!!!!!!!!
Nonsense I hope. Hummels or similar quality to replace per who needs to be sold and ideally van dijk as cover. A dm player who will start, (kondogbia please wenger), and I agree hayden and chambers can be devloped as dm cover and players for the future. Unlikely we’ll spend on a striker as an upgrade in the cavanni mould would cost some serious beans! Also we have sanchez, welbeck, giroud, walcott, sanogoal, afobe, akpom etc. Unless some of these get sold or loaned no one will be bought. More than happy with just dm and cb players from santa this Christmas!