According to reports in all the major newspapers yesterday Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen has agreed to join Manchester United and the only thing left to agree on is the price United will have to pay Arsenal for his services.
The Belgium defender will soon become yet one more player that Gunners have let leave to play for one of their Premiership rivals joining Bacary Sagna, Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy who all left the Emirates during the past few seasons.
Speaking about the move former Gunner Ray Parlour told talkSPORT: “Thomas Vermaelen wants to play football.”
“Last year he couldn’t get in the Arsenal side because Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were superb at the back. Kieran Gibbs has improved so much he couldn’t even play him at left-back.
“When you get to a situation where a squad member wants to move, sometimes the player has more sway than the club itself.
“If he wants to play football, and an offer comes in from a club like Manchester United, then it’s hard for the club to say, ‘no, you can’t go there, we want to sell you to a club in Italy or Spain’.
“He was doing the captain’s notes last year in the Arsenal programme but not getting in the team. I can’t see that changing anytime soon. He wants to play first team football.”
