There is no doubt that Arsenal need a new young, strong and steady defensive midfielder even though Arsene Wenger has been burying his head in the sand to ignore the fact for the last few seasons. But now Mikel Arteta and Matthieu Flamini are both getting older, slower and accident-prone, Wenger will simply have to accept that neither those two or the like-a-new-signing Abou Diaby are going to be able to do the job next season.
There were numerous Arsenal rumours with links to the promising PSG youngster Adrien Rabiot, but the latest reports are saying that 19 year-old has set his sights on moving to Roma in Serie A. Personally I would have thought this was a large risk despite his promise.
Much more appealing to me is the rumour from today’s Mirror that Arsenal are intending to bring the 24 year old Aston Villa hard man Fabian Delph to the Emirates. He is certainly more mature than Rabiot, and even more in his favour is that he is English, has loads of experience in the Premier League, and most important for Wenger is the fact that he could be brought in for free at the end of the season.
Delph could slot in easily alongside his English team-mates (he recently won his first cap) and did you see that fantastic shot he had yesterday against Chelsea? If he has refused to sign a new contract for Villa so far, it seems obvious that he will be looking to move onwards and upwards in the summer, so why not to Arsenal?