By ’Tayo Amosu,
August 7th, 2014
According to Sky Sports News, Spanish giants Barcelona FC have made a bid for Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen.
Out this summer to fortify their defence, Barcelona has reportedly put in a bid of about £10m for the Belgian, who made just seven starts last season.
It is unlikely that Arsenal won’t sell their captain because the manager admitted last week that Vermaelen could leave the club this summer due to his lack of playing time.
Arsene Wenger found the centre-back pairing of Per Mertersacker and Laurent Koscielny preferable and the Arsenal captain called into action only when one of the duo is absent due to injury.
Vermaelen must have declared his intention to leave the North Londoners because talks of his exit and links to club commenced immediately the transfer window was thrown open.
The Belgium international has been strongly linked to Barcelona and Manchester United in the past few weeks, but it appears the Catalan giants are more in need of his services than the Red Devils of Old Trafford.
Barcelona who just recently saw their captain and centre back, Carles Puyol, reluctantly retiring from football with series of nagging knee injuries, desires to have a dependable defender to fill the centre back position in a bid to strengthen their back line against the assault of Spanish La Liga attackers.
This summer, Barcelona FC have added to their squad by bringing in Luis Suarez from Liverpool, Jeremy Mathieu from Valencia and Ivan Rakitic from Sevilla and are set to add defensive strength to their squad with this Vermaelen £10m bid, which would see the 28-year-old player walk in to stabilize a depleted defence.
Vermaelen, who Wenger said to the press had injury worries ahead of the Emirates Cup matches, represented his country Belgium in the recently concluded 2014FIFA World Cup held in Brazil.
Thomas Vermaelen, known as the ‘‘Verminator’’ amongst Arsenal fans, joined Arsenal in the summer of the 2009/2010 season and rose to become the captain of the team following the transfer of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United in August 2012.
He was known to be a very good goal scoring defender who lifted his team on many occasions.
He previously rose to become the captain of Ajax Amsterdam, a club whose academy he graduated from.
However, consistent poor performances for Arsenal, notably against big teams, which coincided with strong and outstanding displays from Per Mertersacker and Laurent Koscielny, saw him drop the perking order in the Arsenal defence line-up.
Arsenal, who just acquired the service of Calum Chambers from Southampton and replaced Bacary Sagna with Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle, may not have to sign another player to replace Vermaelen, if he goes, as the 19-year-old was stable at the centre-back role he was saddled with at the Emirate Cup matches.
Arsene Wenger on Calum Chambers, recently told the press that, ‘’He can play at Centre-Back, Right-Back and Central-Midfield. I hope he will give us competition for the players in these three positions’’.
The manager however revealed also that maximum of two player signings would still be made, this season.
It is now left to be seen if one of those signings would be a Thomas Vermaelen replacement at Arsenal.
