Arsenal seriously need a defensive shake up very soon. With Mustafi out injured since the Man United debacle, Wenger had stuck with his ageing defence of Koscielny, Mertesacker and Monreal for the next Premier League game against Southampton. The combined age of those defenders is 96 years, and they are not getting any younger as we all know.
I doubt Mertesacker will play again for us, except in cup games, until the end of the season, and Koscielny is looking tired and could get a flare-up of his Achilles problem at any time. The Boss doesn’t seem to trust Calum Chambers or Rob Holding any more and they are hardly world class anyway.
In my opinion Arsenal should go all out to sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January, or continue to deal with defensive errors in the long run, which we can ill afford in our race for the Top Four. Van Dijk, who Wenger refused to pay 10m GBP for when he was at Celtic, is now going to cost much much more, but he is Premier League proven and coveted by many big clubs. But nobody needs him more than Arsenal and it looks like Southampton could be persuaded to part with him for the right price.
Van Dijk’s manager Mauricio Pellegrino, dropped the defender for yesterday’s defeat to Chelsea, and when asked about Van Dijk being sold he said: “I can’t control the market. I’m not the owner of the player. I can have my opinion and this I have give to the technical director, to the chairman my opinion. After, the board can decide all together which is the best for the team.”
“I will repeat that I can’t control the market right now. I can’t control this. I will recommend to try to keep our best player here in the club. The club was clear in the beginning and I have the same opinion.”
So what do you think? Should Arsenal go for him at any price?
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