Do Arsenal need to prioritise beating Chelsea to defensive signing?

Arsenal are being linked with a move to sign Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton this summer.

The centre-back is on Chelsea’s radar after a thoroughly impressive time with the Saints, and is believed to be viewed as the ideal type of defender for playing with three at the back.

The Gunners appear to be appear to be giving in to the growing trend of playing with 3 centre-halves, as Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United have all tried out this term, and it has so far proved a success, with the Blues closing on the title since the change in system, and Spurs their nearest rivals to win the league.

Chelsea were believed to be favourites to sign Van Dijk this summer, with Conte eyeing him to line up alongside David Luiz, but Arsenal are claimed to be ready to beat them to his signing, as they look to oversee a major overhaul of their squad in the coming transfer window.

Questions have been raised of our defence in recent months, and summer signing Shkodran Mustafi was overlooked to start in the 3-4-2-1 line-up against Middlesbrough on Monday, with Gabriel and Rob Holding chosen ahead of him. That is not a back-line worth comparing to the likes of those remaining in the title race, and improvements will need to be made in order to move forward in that system.

Van Dijk is rated amongst the best defenders in the Premier League at present, despite representing a mid-table side, and Southampton are known for selling players for the right price, and will most certainly lose their star centre-halve this summer.

If he was to join the PL leaders he could well give them a huge advantage in trying to top the table next season, a prospect we need to stop from happening, while closing the gap on our rivals after a dismal term.

Does VVD need to be a priority this summer? Will our club finally go toe-to-toe with a big rival for a target?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Chelsea Southampton van dijk

12 Comments

  1. IMO we need this transfer window:

    LB, CM(B2B), CF and 2*Wingers.

    I doubt Wenger will be given enough to spend £35 ish mil on each of those as that would be around £175mil… Also CF do go for more so… It could be up to £200mil (£60mil for CF) on 5 players.

    If rumors are correct and Wenger will be given £100mil upfront and up to another £100mil from player sales then I would trust in our def as they can perform well when our CM performs well ahead of them and doesn’t leave massive holes for the opposition to run through and put more pressure on the def.

    1. Money is not the problem, the manager is. Wenger had a net spend of almost £90 million this season, and we’ve hit rock bottom. Bayern’s net spend was £15 million, and look what they did to us! He’s had the financial resources over the last four years, and we’ve only regressed. We performed better in big games, and played more entertaining football with financial restrictions, and using players the likes of: Denilson, Bendtner, Silvestre, Eboue, Almunia, Vela, etc.

      Wenger could spend £300 million in the summer and nothing will change. We need a manager is tactically astute, and that can motivate properly. Wenger has proven countless times, he cannot do this.

  2. I think Arsene will try to milk another year out of injury prone Kos. I also like the look of Holding so with our limited resources I doubt he will pay what is needed for Van Dijk.

    In addition, there will be more interesting clubs for Van Dijk to choose. Why would he not want to play CL football and why would he not want to play for a club known to win major trophies from time to time?

    One would expect that most agents will understand that the CL era at Arsenal is finished for the foreseeable future. All clubs above us have top managers and will continue to develop their squads by spending as much money or more than Arsene. So better managers and more money means things look bleak for Arsenal and their ability to convince top players to come play for us.

    Virgil van Dijk will be considered a top player, there are not too many CD avialable.

  3. CAUTION!!

    .

    Please don’t give a thumbs up(cuz everything you type is on a negative scale)……. The system must be experiencing some sorta malware implanted by Wenger and his cohorts Hahahaha

  4. I see him heading to Chelsea / Man U / Man City / or even Barca. Not that we don’t need him, its just our management will bid so low even Westham will present a better package just to piss us fans.

  5. We could sign Messi and Arsene would find a way to tell him how Ben doesn’t play in the right position and ‘convert’ him.

    With Arsene in charge signings are irrelevant. Mr Bewn will strike one way or another

  6. Heard people call for the likes of Hamsik, Jorginho etc

    ,
    & I’ve been thinking…… There must be a reason Wenger never signs a player from the Italian League….. One of the last names we were linked with was Giovinco (LoL…where is that guy even?)

    Don’t we think it’s worth finding out why?

    (just a thought)

    1. But really Giovinco is destroying defenders in the MLS.I know its only the MLS but really check out his videos…He’s been scoring unreal goals

  7. We would likely have to offer the 50m for him that’s being reported and give him wages between 120 to 150 a week. After the money spent on Mustafi I don’t see that happening. Would love to get him, he’s very good in the air and he throws himself in front of things. Would be a great addition to add to the left back if we have him that is. All of a sudden we’d be injecting height and aggression to our side, much needed.

  8. Players are not the issue in Arsenal, leadership is. If you can’t motivate your players and give them winning mentality, even having Messi and ronaldo in your team will yield no result. He has set a top 4 standard and made the players to believe it is a trophy. That’s it. Otherwise, we have good defenders and potential ones too

  9. Er… we couldn’t sign Kante last summer so what makes you think we could sign Van Dijk ?
    Clearly Wenger is not eating his five a day of fruits and vegetables.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors