Arsene Wenger is keen to strengthen his squad before the transfer window closes next week.
Although the Frenchman has added Mathieu Debuchy, Alexis Sanchez, David Ospina and Claum Chambers to his ranks, he is still keen to bring in at least two new faces – reportedly a defensive midfielder and centre-back.
Wenger decided to sell Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona for £15 million and now has to try and bring in a replacement with the money he got from the Belgian’s sale.
As a result of Vermaelen’s sale, a number of centre-backs have been linked with a move to Arsenal, such as Kostas Manolas, Toby Alderweireld, Daniel Agger and Matija Nastasic.
But a name newly being touted to fill Vermaelen’s boots is West Ham’s Winston Reid, reports the Metro.
The 26-year-old defender was linked with a move to the Emirates in January and it is thought that Wenger will rekindle his interest in the Kiwi.
Reid has entered his final year of his contract at Upton Park and is yet to be offered an extension by the West Ham board.
It is believed Arsenal will try their luck with an £8 million bid before the window closes.
Is Reid the answer to Arsenal’s defensive problems?
Personally, although a very good centre-back I wonder if he would hit the ground running at Arsenal.
He is resolute in his defending, has good positional awareness, can win balls in the air, and boasts a lot of Premier League experience, and for £8 million, represents a decent deal for us to take.
But I’m not sure he’s the right man for the job. It would be a massive step up for him to take and, in my opinion, I don’t he would get ahead of Per Mertesacker or Laurent Koscielny.
A very good player for West Ham, but would just be a number if he joined Arsenal.
your analysis here appears muddled up. the fact is arsenal at this moment is not looking to sign someone who would displace mertesacker or koschelny but a back-up central defender. if he grows in stature and quality as to displace either of these the better for arsenal, but I don’t believe any of those other linked defenders would have come in and displace the fbg or kos right away.
Get Chris Samba. Problem solved. He is a true leader.
I think Monolas is going to be singed for our left back options as a back-up or to compete Gibbs and Monreal for a starting position. And this guy appears to pocceess the credentials for that Arsenal left back job above the other names you ‘ve mentioned, I should think. The likely stumbling block to his signing for Arsenal is, report has it, he wants an assurance for a regurlar start in the squad. To me, the boss could start him in the away game to Leciester, to let him prove his credentials for a regular start in the tough Barclays Premier League matches. I hope he would not turn out to become a risk as he hadn’t any Premier football experience as we would want to collect the maximum points at Leciester. Good defenders appear to be scares, as I am seeing. The boss should therefore snap him up.
The problem is our manager here coz he always want to do business on the last hour but it’s always not fair to other teams coz they also need to sign replacements in their team….