Arsenal are said to be in the market this month for a new centre-back following their defensive displays this season.
A number of defenders have and continue to be linked with a move to the Emirates. Several names have been mentioned but nothing has materialized yet. A defender that has reportedly been targeted by the Gunners is Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk, and Arsene Wenger may be interested to know that the Scottish champions are willing to sell the Dutchman if they match the £10 million asking price.
So should Arsene Wenger match Celtic’s asking price for the 6’4’’ defender?
£10 million isn’t a sizeable fee and, to be fair, is a good valuation for Van Dijk.
The Dutchman is superb in the air, strong on the ball and has good positional awareness – he has all the attributes required to succeed in the Premier League. However, some may question that he stands out as a good defender only because he plays in Scotland, which is a fair point to be honest. But he has featured for Celtic in European games in the past, where he impressed, so there is no reason why he couldn’t do what he’s been doing at Celtic for us at the Emirates.
We need options and cover in our defensive department and Van Dijk would certainly provide this. He could even challenge for a regular spot in the side, and instead of splashing out a monstrous amount of cash on a defender, why not just go for the Celtic man and be done with it?
If reports are to believed that Celtic have slapped a £10 million asking price on Van Dijk and that Wenger is indeed interested in the tall defender, then the Frenchman should act quickly, with other Premier League clubs thought to be monitoring the Holland international.
Should we cough up £10 million for Van Dijk?
Let us know your thoughts below
No he worth more than that so get lost
He is exactly the defender we need. Bargain at 10million
He is exactly the defender Arsenal need. 10 Million a bargain
Looks strong,quick,good in the air AND very good on the ball….in Scotland.He played in the 6-1 CL defeat against Barcelona and did not cover himself in glory that night….he often looks dis-interested.Looks to have an attitude problem sometimes and would be a real gamble for Arsenal at £10m
aye..10 million…get a grip.you paid about 15 mill for that defender from southampton but think van dyke, who is a far better player is only worth 10….you need to dig a good bit deeper into your wallet if you want him…bunch of chancers.
Van Dijk has all the attributes to be world class, Supposedly even in training he is the most technical player in the whole Celtic squad. I think he plays within himself though, and so there is plenty of scope with him. He is super quick, quicker than he looks, strong, good in the air, he is a Rolls Royce type of centre half, and was also a bit of a late starter so you are talking maybe 12/15 years still in him! Groningen are due a 25% sell on though so Celtic want a top fee for him. We have sold Wanyama/Ki/Forster recently and looking at the prices for average players in England, these guys were all stole off Celtic, – I’m sure Wenger wishes he bought Wanyama and Forster now. Wenger doesn’t seem to be able to spot a good player, Chambers the latest, who looks very average, and Mertesacker is an embarrassment, so he probably WON’T go for Van Dijk! Cheers
I also meant to say that the amount of pressure Celtic players play under is pretty much unsurpassed because if we go 2/3 games without winning its the end of the world. Also with Europe every year it means any club buying a Celtic player is getting someone (even someone young) with loads of experience! I said to a few Southampton fans who were worried about Forster – they were saying he doesn’t have anything to do in Scotland, In my opinion he will go on to be one of the best keepers in the world. It is super patronizing how the English look at players up here – even Harry redknapp said recently he would be very reluctant to buy a player from up here – he obviously doesn’t have a clue because playing for Celtic is much much harder than playing for QPR. The players I mentioned above are examples of this. managers that don’t understand this are either naive or in the wrong job!
If Arsene Wenger thinks Van Dijk can do the job effectively, let him bargain seriously with Celtic and get the deal done before other clubs splash their cash on the guy. We need re- enforcement in that department.
Celtic shouldnt deal with that sly git Wenger after our Euro Champs Lg encounter where beforehand he treated us like a junior league outfit but who found it so difficult to score against us that he wouldn’t sportingly accept the appropriate 2 game suspension of Eduardo whose simulated penalty was the score difference between the teams. We should also consider big Vigils own future playing and character development. Look what going to the G(r)unn(t)ers did to Charlie Nic. HH
Yeah that was a sore one – Boruc was in goal and didn’t touch Eduardo, and Wenger is totally ungracious and treated Celtic like mugs – I always liked him up until then as well/liked Arsenal but I went right off them. Don’t get me wrong they would probably have won the tie but that dive killed us and there was obviously no way back. Even if Wenger had came out afterwards and said we had been a bit unlucky or whatever, but no, he pretty much Eduardo would never dive and away you go Celtic, as they say in Glasgow – he’s a complete chancer! Anyway that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things because every player has his price, I just hate the old chestnut about he is only playing in Scotland, well its like buying a player from Holland or Croatia or wherever were the league is pretty poor, its all relative – its the player you are buying and as I said the pressure Celtic players live with is incredible – we are a global club, with a huge fan base and the pressure is incredible! Oh and by the way the whole Arsenal defense is appalling – Kieran Gibbs is another one who is very average/totally overrated, monreal was another classic Wenger signing – defenders seem to go there an go from average to poor, I thought Steve Bould ( who was a great old School centre half) would make a difference but he can’t perform miracles, wenger is simply buying the wrong players. Playing in Scotland, especially for Celtic is a far better grounding than playing in any other league, the game is played at the same pace and is just as aggressive – its similar to buying a player from a Stoke City or whatever but you also get the European experience and more ability 9 times out of 10!