Arsenal fans have heard the bad news this week that our chances of completing the transfer of Mats Hummels this summer are about the same as the chances of Tottenham winning the Premier League title, yes it´s that unlikely! But the Gunners have been given a big boost to the hope of signing his central defensive partner at Borussia Dortmund.
Serbian international Neven Subotic has now returned to the starting line-up after a spell on the sidelines with a cruciate ligament injury but has now started the last seven games, helping Jurgen Klopp´s team to climb back up to mid table, conceding just six goals and keeping three clean sheets from those seven games.
Subotic is about to enter the final year of his contract and is aware of the rumoured interest from Arsenal. At 26-years old the defender is coming in to his prime and from the sounds of this ESPN report, he is very keen to test himself in the Premier League. Unlike many players that struggle with the physicality of English football, Subotic would relish it and seems to me like an excellent choice to add more steel to the Arsenal team.
The Dortmund star said, “I can still imagine playing in a league someday which rates physical football,” he said. “The game in England is tougher, more aggressive and more physical — in a sportsmanlike sense. As a centre-back I don’t always want to fear just touching an opponent.
“How can I do my work when my opponent starts crying without contact? And those penalties after dives annoy me, I think that’s cheating. I just don’t like it when an attacker is going at what feels like one kilometre an hour and flies like he’s been hit by a car.”
He also played down questions about his future and said he would deal with that in the summer, but he didn´t commit to his current club and that is quite telling. The problem for Arsenal is if Man United are going to make a serious transfer bid for Hummels as I doubt that Klopp would let both of his best defenders leave. So if Wenger acts fast he might kill two birds with one stone, signing a great defender while scuppering Louis van Gaal´s transfer plans.
Won’t get him.
Even if Mert leaves we have Kos and Gab, doubt he will come to sit on bench.
Kos and Gab are number 1 choices, if Mert goes it needs to be someone younger who will step up when his chance arrives and won’t mind being on the.Bench while he waits for that chance
If we let Mert go we need someone like Schar
what is wrong with everyone??
now we have squad depth and the ability to play with a higher line (gabriel) or depp-sitting counter football we suddenly want to get rid of a guy capped immensely for germany? yeah he had a shit start to the season but come on. he is a good cb and with the players competing and resting we will get the best out of em. remember last season what a rock he was? i’d argue our whole defense was shambles at the beginning of the season, not just merts. give him a break.
in other news, shad is working miracles and we’re close to having a full squad and also getting players back more quickly. still early days, but i’m hopeful we can stop being an injury team. coyg
‘now we have squad depth and the ability to play with a higher line (gabriel) or depp-sitting counter football’
Sorry but there are maybe 3-5 games a year (Max and a generous max) that we go into a game with a mentality of playing deep sitting football. This is Arsenal not snooze-fest chelsea.
Ahhh i’m so torn with Mert!! He has such good qualities and you can see his desire and passion for the club.. I defended him whole-heartedly when he was constantly slated for lack of pace and it truly wasn’t an issue because of exceptional positioning.. But this season it has been an issue, if he does get caught out there’s no recovery, and Koscielny has produced some exceptional moments that have made his mistakes a lot less crippling than they could have been…
The reason i’m torn is because i love him so much as an Arsenal player.. Great heart!
But do you really believe he is of the calibre to lead the line in a title winning defence playing for a possession side?
true. but merts did well for us last season. he did great second half of the season. he is still worth it
we can always rotate…we need at least 4 world class centre backs in the team if we want to compete
name a team with 4 world-class CB’s?
Manutd, jones smalling Evans rojo. Both quantity and quality
hahahahhahahahaah, what are you smoking?
Bayern with dante/badstuber/benatia/Jerome boating despite the fact they play less games than us that’s called depth
Dante??
Seriously f*ckin Dante? And bayern don’t like benatia he’s not the same he was at roma
what’s wrong with dante hhe was the part of the hykenes squad that won the treble
If Wenger did bring him here, I wont exactly be sad
There is nothing wrong with depth
I don’t see the problem
Yes we have Koscielny, Gabriel and Mertsacker
But we also have injuries every year. A lot of them
We also compete in four tournaments
Also, Mertsacker is not getting younger. Chambers needs more years to improve
So Subotic will Not spend a lot of time on the bench.
Lastly, depth means competition. Competition means players will be forced to improve or always play at their best. It’s not a bad thing
So if Wenger wants to put in a bid for Subotic or Schar or another quality defender, he has my blessing.
I do think that he should first focus on another top DM though
OT: Early kick-off tomorrow AND Anthony Taylor for ref. Anyone else worried???
Anthony Taylor is the worst referee in the PL and yet he seems to be progressively getting more and more influential matches.
Why target Subotic whilst United target Hummels? Hummels is the one we need, he’s a leader. I thought we were supposed to be competing for the top players now?
Laurent Koscielny will be 30 next season + per would be 31 sign subotic & pair him with Gabriel we need depth given our injury records + per has been the only cb who has stayed fit for an entire season last & this one we should still kepp him while chambers think wenger will use in cdm role
SKY Italia reporting that Usmanov is in contact with Palermo regarding Dybala & has asked them to give a price SKY Italia claim that Wenger, who denied interest in Dybala yesterday, may have been lying .
Arteta, Wilshere, Welbeck & Rosický were all in training today…….
Morata’s agent says the striker turned down Arsenal (who offered more money) last summer to sign with Juventus.
@Leo I believe SKY Italia that Wenger is being economical with the truth.
The last time, he was asked about Carzola. He denied ever heard the name let alone pursuing him. 48 hours later, Carzola was unveiled.