Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper is reporting this morning that Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg is going to launch a bid in the hope of signing Arsenal outcast Thomas Vermaelen.
As the pressure mounts up along with Arsene Wenger’s list of injured players the French manager can ill afford to lose any players at this time, yet the 28-year-old Belgium is eager for more playing time ahead of next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil.
You would expect that the defenders experience alone would be enough to guarantee him a spot in the Belgium national team, yet Vermaelen is conscious that he wants to be in peak for the country many people are picking as a dark horse.
Despite being settled at the Emirates he has only featured in 11 games all season and does not think that is enough for a player of his standing.
Napoli has also expressed interest in the Belgium but with Wenger always siding on the side of caution and telling Vermaelen that he is important he is to the team he is afraid to make a move that may not turn out to be what he expected.
Zenit meanwhile already have his international teammates Nicolas Lombaerts and Axel Witsel playing for them along with plenty of available cash to make a deal happen, yet the question remains about the timing of such a move as Arsenal sit atop the premiership and are still involved in two other competitions.