No Gooner believes EVERY Arsenal transfer rumour that appears in the papers so it is welcome when someone connected to the selling club tells us that the Gunners really are interested in one of our rumoured targets. I just wish it was a much stronger player, but then who knows how anyone will perform until they actually arrive in the Premier League.
The player in question is Celtic’s Virgil Van Dijk, who has been linked with a move to the Emirates for the last two transfer windows – when we were badly in need of a new centre-back. We eventually bought Gabriel Paulista in January, but it is thought that we still need one more to get us extra depth, and Van Dijk could be just the man to wait patiently for his chance.
The news that Arsenal are interested in the 23 year-old comes straight from the horses mouth, well from Tom Boyd, who is an ex-Celtic captain and is still at the Scottish giants, looking after the U-17 side. He said in the Scottish Herald: “I certainly think he’s capable of playing at top clubs down south from what I’ve seen. There’s no problem there,” Boyd said.
“Selfishly, I hope he doesn’t because I want him to stay at Celtic for a number of years. He gives everything in every game and he has performed exceptionally well. That’s why he has come to the attention of sides like Arsenal. He has everything in his locker to go down there. He has pace, power and he can score goals.
“There have been a couple of blips along the way, of course. But he is just a young boy who is still learning. It takes experience to get all of these notches out of your system but he will do that.”
At 23 he certainly has enough time to improve before becoming a regular at Arsenal, and the Scottish Premier League is usually a good place to have an apprenticeship before moving to England, so there is every chance he could become a star.
But will it be at Arsenal?