Arsenal Sign Per Mertesacker

[Dog Toffee]

Can't see how anyone can dissaprove of this signing. Tall, very experienced, international quality CB. Good.

[selassie]

I don't think many are really disapproving but the signing of Mertesacker does smack of Wenger going for the cheap option. Jagielka was clearly our first choice target this summer & last summer, we didn't sign him because we weren't prepared to pay up. It seems Cahill was our second choice, again it seems we weren't prepared to pay up.

It looks as if Mertesacker was third on the list and we signed him because he fits into Arsene's fair valuation of a player.

Mertesacker is a good player, I do have doubts about his lack of pace, and he's not playing at the level he was a couple of years ago but he'll improve our defence and has the potentially to form a very good partnership with Tommy V.

[IBK]

I don't think many are really disapproving but the signing of Mertesacker does smack of Wenger going for the cheap option. Jagielka was clearly our first choice target this summer & last summer, we didn't sign him because we weren't prepared to pay up. It seems Cahill was our second choice, again it seems we weren't prepared to pay up.

It looks as if Mertesacker was third on the list and we signed him because he fits into Arsene's fair valuation of a player.

Mertesacker is a good player, I do have doubts about his lack of pace, and he's not playing at the level he was a couple of years ago but he'll improve our defence and has the potentially to form a very good partnership with Tommy V.

Spot on. I think that fans for once want a a player purchased for pure footballing reasons, not economic ones. I don't follow German football, and have no opinion on Mertesacker's ability - but its pretty clear that he wasn't first choice and I worry about what look like panic, rather than planned purchases.

[Niall_Quinn]

I'm warming to this Mertesacker signing. Surely he'll command a lot of respect with the nippers in our squad given his already impressive history. He brings experience we desperately lack, even if it's not PL experience, the guy simply has to be a massive step up from the likes of Djourou and Kos so quite a few boxes are being ticked here. Plus, if his price means we can sign a serious midfielder in the next few hours it's surely better to end up with Mertesacker + 1 rather than Cahill or Jagielka + nothing else. I think this was the right deal, provided we sign that midfielder. Otherwise it would be fairly obvious he's been bought because he's the cheapest. Next few hours and we'll know.

[Dog Toffee]

It can't just turn into a bad signing because we don't go on to buy someone else because of it surely? It's good in its own right, but an experienced CM is needed, we cant JUST rely on creativity from midfield on jack n that welsh cripple.

[Niall_Quinn]

It can't just turn into a bad signing because we don't go on to buy someone else because of it surely? It's good in its own right, but an experienced CM is needed, we cant JUST rely on creativity from midfield on jack n that welsh cripple.

I'm not talking about Mertesacker as much as the club. The German is a piece in the puzzle, but if we skimp and don't fill in the other pieces then Mertesacker being here or not won't make enough of a difference. Plus the signing will have been made for the wrong reasons, a sticking plaster rather than as part of a bigger plan.

[GP]

Spot on. I think that fans for once want a a player purchased for pure footballing reasons, not economic ones. I don't follow German football, and have no opinion on Mertesacker's ability - but its pretty clear that he wasn't first choice and I worry about what look like panic, rather than planned purchases.

Ragardless of price, I'd have taken Merts over Cahill or Jags anyway.

[Master Splinter]

I'm surprised Mertespacker hasn't been used yet.

One game with Djourou will probably earn him that epitaph.

[Cripps_orig]

1653: Still agonisingly short of a done deal but here is some more news on Per Mertesacker's inevitable arrival at Arsenal: The big German defender has announced on his personal website that he has signed a contract lasting until 2015. Roughly translated, he says: "For Per Mertesacker a long-cherished wish has come true. He never made a secret of the fact that most excites him the English league." Good to see him speaking in the third person already...

[Niall_Quinn]

The boy done good.