SHARE
Chelsea, Arsenal

 

By Anna Sneider

Former Gunner Ray Parlour has told talkSPORT that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger should be looking to sign a player like Chelsea’s Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic in January.

The 26-year-old is now regarded as one of the worlds’s best holding midfielders, a talent Jose Mourinho spotted bringing him back to Stamford Bridge from Benfica after he was sold to the Portuguese side in 2011 as part of a deal that saw David Luiz move to Chelsea.

After having watched his impressive displays in front of the Chelsea defence this season Parlour believes he is exactly the type of player Arsenal needs in order to get their balance right.

“They’ve got to get that balance right,” he told the Weekend Sports Breakfast. “It’s alright having all these great players and saying, ‘there are going to be goals today’, but they’ve been conceding too many as well.

“They’ve got to get the right sort of players in and I know he [Arsene Wenger] tries to play either Mathieu Flamini in there or Mikel Arteta, if he’s fit, as a holding midfielder but they’re not like a [Nemanja] Matic for Chelsea who can just shield that back-four.

That’s what they’re missing at the moment.

“If they can get the right player, maybe in January – who knows, it’s very hard to buy the top players in January – then maybe it will change Arsenal’s season.”

 

LEAVE A REPLY