If the Arsenal transfer rumours have even a shred of truth to them, it appears that Arsene Wenger is not as against signing a proper defensive midfielder as many of us fans have started to think. It still seems that the Frenchman is after a complete player rather than just an enforcer, with the likes of Samu Khedira and Morgan Schneiderlin on his list of targets.
But Khedira decided to stay at Real Madrid, where his contract lasts until the end of the season, while Southampton finally grew some balls and put their foot down and refused to sell Schneiderlin. That seemed to leave William Carvalho of Sporting Lisbon and, according to a Metro report, Arsenal are now planning to sign the Portuguese international in January.
The report claims that we had a deadline day offer turned down by his current club, but also that they are resigned to losing the 22-year old star as he is not prepared to sign a new contract. So really it seems to be all about finding the right price and the two clubs are set to hold talks about the transfer this week in Manchester.
I suppose that this will be a boost for us in January if it happens and will allow Wenger more time to watch Carvalho to make sure he is the right choice. It just makes me wonder why we did not make more of an effort to get him before the summer window closed. It appears we nearly missed out on Welbeck as well, so does Wenger need to get a bit more serious with his transfer business?