Arsenal are in desperate need of a new centre-back after the club revealed yesterday that the big defender Calum Chambers will miss most of 2020 after an operation on his ACL…
Further to the injury sustained during the match against Chelsea on Sunday, we can confirm that Calum ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee. Calum has had successful surgery in London on Thursday morning. The rehabilitation process is expected to take between six to nine months. Everyone at the club will be supporting Calum to ensure he is back on the pitch as soon as possible.
This news prompted Arteta to admit that cover will be needed but he tempered that by saying “the reality at the moment is that we’re not going to be able to do much.” This is basically an admission that there will not be big funds available for transfers this month…
The Boss said on Arsenal.com: “That we’re going to try to be in the market to see options that can strengthen the team. That’s for sure and that’s our obligation, and we’re going to be working on that. My obligation is to give my opinion on the things we can improve. Obviously we have some bad injuries, like Calum a few days ago.
“That’s obviously going to change our plans at the back, but the reality at the moment is that we’re not going to be able to do much. I’m more concerned at the moment about getting people back from injuries than I am the signings. I want to improve the players I have here, get everybody on board and understanding what we’re trying to do. If something extra comes up and we think it’s the right opportunity to improve what we have, let’s do it.”
So that seems to be preparing Arsenal fans for a quiet January, and this fact has also been echoed by SkySports in their transfer roundup this morning. They wrote: “Sky Sports News understands incomings at Arsenal are unlikely at this stage after the club committed £150m to new players in the summer and centre-back William Saliba to return from his St Etienne loan in the summer.”
So we can expect one cheap centre-back to come in, but not much else….
Demiral would be good, or someone like Godfrey from norwich.
Otherwise B. Kamara or Malang Sarr.
I dont want Rugani, he just comes across as another error prone B grade defender.
Please don’t even consider a CB from a team that currently stays at the 20th position in EPL table
We don’t need new CB currently, because:
– We already have Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, Holding, Medley and Mavropanos
– Arteta’s system protects the defenders better than Wenger’s, Emery’s and Ljungberg’s. So having mediocre CBs will do for now
Completely agree with you .that’s why a DMF with good passing abilities should be our priority… A reliable cover for Xhaka and torriera is key to Arteta’s style. We lost against Chelsea because xhaka wasn’t playing. I hope Arteta prioritises this for his own good.
@gotanidea
You are right to a certain degree.
But I wouldn’t mind, if we could sell Mustafi for maybe 10-12 m. and use the money for Boateng. I think it can only be an improvement although Boateng is 31.
Saliba is young, and our future should maybe be him, Holding, Medley and Mavropanos. It does worry me, that Mavropanos and maybe Medley also, seem not to develop very fast.
Will they ever become good/great CB’s??
system is better but it will not always hide what we have at the back. If we get somebody I really hope we don’t take a chance on a perenially injured player making a comeback – we have a boatload of those guys at the back already.
“We already have Mustafi, Sokratis, Luiz, Holding, Medley and Mavropanos”
no good, okay at best, okay at best, seems to be made of glass (hope he comes back strong but lets not hold breath), no track record, no good based on what I have seen.
When we go to the fullbacks:
Tierney – made of glass, and did not overly impress in his brief appearances – just my opinion)
Bellerin – hasn’t returned to form and may not – speed is not there now, has not overly impressed when he has played
Maitland-Niles – has done pretty well out of position, but he really needs to work on his passing – makes soft or plain bad passes a lot
Kola – good going forward but he isn’t great at the back, he is reckless by times
Saka – has done will as a youngster playing out of position
We can’t fix everything and a better system certainly helps. A strong midfielder and an experienced CB are essential (the CB doesn’t need to be fantastic world-beater, just solid.
Agree with an earlier poster who said teams will be reluctant in EPL as everybody is in a fight for Europe or relegation. Maybe we need to go to Championship and see if we can pull somebody from there…
Here we go with the small budget crap!! The budget is as big as needed if Kroenke decides so!!
I have mixed feelings about boatengs rumour…in one hand, we can think about it like the cheaper option, something our board has accustomed us to, and something that got us to middle table…artetas income have not change it, neather the injuries and the fact we are not even in EL position
In the other hand, Boateng is a good defender, maybe a little past of his best (not like Luiz, who i have never rate to much to he honest). He has a very good pass range and is already familiar with what arteta wants to build…Is a short term solution, but today that’s exactly what we need due our situation
Just cannot believe how unlucky we are with injuries. Very interesting though that it’s yet another long-term injury for a player from the Wenger era, because many questioned his training methods back then.
Third ManJW, sorry but to me it seems unreasonable to blame current injuries on Wenger. You might just as well, and equally wrongly, bame them on Bertie Mee! IF KEN READS YOUR POST HE MAY WELL ADD HIS OWN TUPPENCEWORTH AND HE WOULD BE RIGHT IN WHAT I KNOW HE WOULD SAY. We need to all move on now from blaming Wenger. I was hardly a fan of his for his last decade, to put it very mildly indeed,but fair is fair my friend JW!
Yeah I am surprised ken isn’t all over this yet. The only reason I mentioned it, was because I read many different articles years ago, from ex-coaches, physios, etc, saying that Wenger’s outdated training methods played a role in the injuries, and recurring injuries. The same people also talked about Pep’s methods as well, as he always picks up a lot of similar injuries, and still does. What’s also very interesting is that the majority of injuries, and all of our long-term injuries since Wenger’s departure, have been with his players. So there maybe some truth to it.
Famous last words perhaps from me BUT since Arteta seems able to get Ozil once again playing like the player we bought 6 years ago – and I cannot remember the last time he played three hard working and successful games in a row, til now – we may at last have a reliably creative central midfield, which means that Chambers injury may well be a blessing in disguise. My reasoning being that Chambers is not good enough in any case and we are bound, I think, NOW, to bring in a quality CB in Jan. We have plenty of CB’s already but trouble is, NONE are any good, save the always injured Holding. I have long written off this season in any case and even should we qualify for EL, it makes no real money and gets in the way of a proper top four challenge. We are better off missing out on it this season and CL qual is beyond all sensible hopes, even now that we have Arteta. Next season with Saliba with us, Tierney and Holding HOPEFULLY both fit and a new CB we will buy this month , we may, just may, have a basis of a sound defence at LONG LAST. I think Chambers will stay, once fit and we will let Sok and Must both go. I assume that Luiz will now be kept and after the United game, who knows, we MAY see a proper defender and even captain emerge. I did say “famous last words” so I could well be hideously wrong. But without hope, we are lost anyway.
Most importantly though, is that AT LAST we have a coach who can and will get the utmost out of all our players and that is sheer golddust, my fellow Gooners!
As you say JF, we have quantity but little in the way of real quality at CB despite the good performances we saw against Man Utd.Whether we spend this month will depend on who is available and whether we decide to sell Xhaka to Berlin.In this connection I would take 30m for Xhaka and Mustafi if they are prepared to go.There is no point in buying a CB unless he has real quality and is not past his best, particularly as Holding seems to have finally shaken off his injuries and is back in full training.
It seems Arteta has come in with the brief to develop and use the players he has. Not a bad thing as we can’t be a cheque book club, so looks like maybe a loan move to fill any gaps in the playing staff. I’ve said so many times January is the better time to sell any players, rather than buy, surplus to requirements so hopefully we have the option to clear out any players that don’t fit on an inflated fee. Is there really any players available to us that would improve the team. We clearly have little to no money to spend. What’s Phil Jones at United or John stones at city doing, neither are injured as far as I’m aware?