You would think that Arsenal had more than enough centre-backs, with the arrival of Gabriel and Saliba this summer. to add to Holding, Luiz, Chambers, Mustafi, Mari plus Kieran Tierney who can fill in in the middle as neccessary.
Of course we also have Sokratis, who has been left out of the Arsenal squad. Many will also say that you could add Mavropanos to that list as he has been sent on loan to Stuttgart, but the Greek has made just one appearance for the side so far, having suffered a meniscus injury.
But it would appear, according to Football London, that Arsenal have already made a deal with Hertha Berlin for their young defender Omar Rekik to join us this January, although there is a possibility that the 18 year-old could remain at Berlin for the rest of this season to continue his development, or move here and get some experience with Arsenal’s Under23 side.
Although it may seem we are overloaded with defenders, the fact is that Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and David Luiz will all be free agents next summer, and Arsenal are still waiting to see how Mavropanos and Saliba develop during this campaign, so Rekik could be a young and cheap addition to the squad for next year…
If he is an upgrade on the right side, sign him up!
Nothing wrong with strengthening the academy, Chelsea, city, Liverpool and even Leicester have been doing it and we all know how that has worked out.
Once the “3 bang average seniors” have moved on, Mari, Chambers and Holding will step up and probably become the next 3 bang average seniors. I am more excited about the likes of Ballard, McGuiness and Clarke to see if they can come back from loans with the form they are all showing elsewhere
This will annoy Saliba to the extent he may choose to leave us. He is that angry from what he says whenever he is interviewed or gets messages from former team mates. Arteta needs to be sweet to that kid coz he is talented and now has to on loan again? He is not happy at all.