Everybody knows that Arsenal are in desperate need of defensive reinforcements in January but it would seem that the only way to make sure the new arrival will not need a settling in period is to buy a ready-made Premiership player. This is surely the reason why the Gunners have been continually linked with the West Ham United centre-back Winston Reid, especially as he is approaching the last six months of his contract.
The Hammers manager Sam Allardyce is obviously aware of the danger of losing one of his best players, so he has now spoken out and told Arsenal that they will have to pay over the odds to persuade him to sell Reid in the January window. “He isn’t going anywhere,” Allardyce asserted on Sky Sports. “He is not going anywhere unless someone bids £20m or something like that. There is obviously not a lot I can do about that.
“If somebody flirts around with a measly offer because he is in the last year of his contract, we would make more money by keeping him and finishing where we are in the league than selling him and putting our good season in jeopardy. Because replacing him in January – replacing anybody in January – is a very difficult job indeed.”
Arsene Wenger also knows the problems of buying class players in the Winter Transfer window, but as the Arsenal boss failed to bring in the needed additions in the summer, perhaps he will now have to pay the price for his errors.
But can anyone seriously see Arsenal paying that much for a player with six months left on his contract? I can’t, so I suggest that Gooners now need to cross Reid off our list of possible arrivals….