It seems Arsene Wenger (providing he signs a new deal to remain at the club beyond the summer) will have to track down a new defender to bring in at the end of the season after Thomas Vermaelen has refused to talk about his future at the club.
The 28-year-old is currently third-choice centre-back at Arsenal behind Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker and has only managed to start three Premier League games so far this season.
The Belgium international only has 18 months left to run on his existing contract and although Wenger is ready to talk about a new deal, Vermaelen sees no reason too.
Quoted on SkySports.com, the Belgian defender said:
‘It makes no sense to talk about it now.
‘I have learned to make no long-term plans, so I won’t say anything.’
His situation at the Emirates doesn’t seem to be getting any better in terms of cementing a regular role in the side and because of that he has attracted attention from several clubs, including Manchester United, Napoli and Barcelona in recent months.
However, Vermaelen’s agent, Kees Vos, had this to say on any potential move for his client:
‘We can’t say anything on that matter.’
While Vermaelen is an accomplished centre-back and is a good back-up option to Kos and Per, the man simply wants to play football week in, week out, and unfortunately while the two aforementioned names stay fit and available the former will not receive what he wants.
He still has 18 months left on his current deal so it’s highly unlikely he will be leaving the club unless of course Wenger brings in a replacement.
The thing is most top teams have 3 or 4 top centre backs in fact some have 5. Why is it we cannot keep 3 happy? Even djourou and miquel were unhappy so come summer we could see.3 centre backs leaving whilst 2 more youngsters boateng and Fagan are sure to go aswell.