"Thomas Vermaelen may leave" - Wenger

[Ollie the Optimist]

Barcelona have announced that Vermaelen has a thigh injury and will be out for an indefinite period of time.


Arsene just sold an injured player for 15 million. Thats up there with selling song for 16 million. Outstanding trolling

[Globalgunner]

Hope we've been paid up front this time as Barca have a nasty habit of welching on debts or at least paying up late. I think they probably still owe us for Overmars and Petit

[Bumble]

Hope we've been paid up front this time as Bbarca have a nasty habit of welching on debts

I wonder if part of the fee is games based though.... as any sensible deal should be

although as you say barca don't always pay up but perhaps we can have more of there rejects next year to make up for it.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

This is the way to leave a club.

Doesn't go to a rival, doesn't sulk, doesn't insult fans on the way out, releases a statement thanking everyone during his time.

He'll get a massive round of applause when we face Barca next.

[mastermind84]

Barcelona have announced that Vermaelen has a thigh injury and will be out for an indefinite period of time.


Arsene just sold an injured player for 15 million. Thats up there with selling song for 16 million. Outstanding trolling

he was injured at the world cup

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Well I didn't expect Wenger to pick Chambers as the next centreback for us but I dunno, somebody like Hoewedes? Maybe it'd cost a little bit too much and he has always been at Schalke but perhaps somebody of that ilk, not outstanding but solid enough. I'm not sure anybody will describe Vermaelen as solid, I'm not even sure how you describe Vermaelen as a defender.

We probably have a different idea of how we improve the squad; you think keeping a guy who may be pretty good (I think he has been full of errors and have no confidence him for quite some time), that is often injured is more beneficial to us than somebody who may be slightly inferior (again I don't think they would be because I don't rate Vermaelen much for us now) but is there able to help more often.

If we were talking about first team players like we have sold and replaced with inferior quality then I could understand but for a guy that I can't see has contributed to us in any meaningful way other than coming on for a couple of minutes at the end of a game.

If Wenger trusted him to contribute when he was there to play he would have played Vermaelen with any of Koscielny or Mertesacker. As we have seen - Koscielny and Vermaelen together is often horrendous, Vermaelen and Mertesacker is better but still not anywhere near Koscielny and Mertesacker and for that reaso we've seen that Wenger won't break up Koscielny and Mertesacker barring injury but maybe he would if he had a more trusted option there, inferior quality or whatever it may be and thus he might not need to play them together all the time.

In spite of our discrepancies as to where Vermaelen is as a player ( I would suggest that the interest from Manure and Barca suggests he hasn't been quite as faulty) we are still effectively talking about the difference between having 3 CB's or having 4CB's with Vermaelen. Losing him drops the numbers down, even if you don't even see him as a defender any more (which I think is harsh).

We suddenly have 3 CB's and one of those is not even really a recognised CB and merely 19. The lad himself says he doesn't know his best position as does his manager. If we remain beyond the transfer window in the same position I'd have ask a few questions about the process here. As precocious a talent as Chambers is (and I really like what little I've seen) we will be placing unnecessary pressure on him, even without being first team. At the moment he will most certainly start the season and you only have to look at Rambo and Wilshere to be reminded that the rise of a big young talent isn't all plain sailing. You might argue we shouldn't really be in a position where Chambers has started the season as it is.

I think the squad is lacking 3 players, 2 of those major (DM and CF)....and in fairness CB is the one position that isn't so major but nevertheless it is a position that needs filling imo......and now rather than January or next summer..... and with a very apt player at that.

[mastermind84]

Good post young man.

Those were the dark days I did indeed begin to question Wenger. Second only to the time he nearly signed Joe Cole.

I am grateful to Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher gangbanging him on live TV during the Spurs game. Thats when public opinion changed and maybe even Wenger got shamed into dropping him (because it was actually one of his better games by his standards).

it was easy, I was responding to an outstanding post. It was like a tap-in, imho.

All I remember was his first match against Chelsea when he let in that own goal and kept fouling in bad positions. And also Drogba doing him with ease. Then his dire performance where Barcelona played 2 balls down his side knowing he wouldnt be there, and it leading to two Zlatan goals. (Zlatan's first goals in the knockout round, ffs).

Clown defender who I am glad the club got rid of.

[Penguin]

Wenger's comments don't fill me with confidence...

on replacing Vermaelen…
What it does in my head is [make me think that] Chambers is among the best three and if I can find another one I will do it. But to find another one of that quality will not be easy because... Vermaelen left us and had the choice between two massive clubs. That means these clubs have looked everywhere as well and that means it's not easy to find.

on looking for a fourth-choice centre back…
You make your position with your performance and you have to accept that. With the boys who have chosen to live in a competitive world, who plays? I cannot tell you. But maybe a guy who can play in two or three different positions would be a better asset for us.

on Chambers challenging Mertesacker…
He can challenge both centre backs and that's what you want. You cannot play with two centre backs the whole season; that means he will play. You saw Monreal who played one or two games at centre back and he did well.

Does he actually think Nacho played well? I hope he's just WUMming us, we need a replacement and we need him now.

[Power n Glory]

That's a worry. Didn't Kos pick up an small injury on Sunday? We can't afford to leave ourselves short but it looks as if that's what will happen. Monreal and Chambers will be the back cb's.

[saintnickle]

Wenger's comments don't fill me with confidence...



Does he actually think Nacho played well? I hope he's just WUMming us, we need a replacement and we need him now.

Im telling you that we will go into the season ONCE MORE with 2-3 players short .What seriously is stopping wenger from spending more than the 35m he has this window and last summer??.I thought we had 100m waiting to be used to give us the push we need to mount a sustainable challenge on the league and he has left us with one CB one DM and one striker short of challenging.Why save money ??And when are we saving it for??We all know no one will be bought in january..jeez that is plainly obvious after last january's debacle