Written by Fab4.

Arsenal are ready to launch a £10m bid to sign Germany defender Per Mertesacker, according to the Mirror. Arsene Wenger will make the move after Sol Campbell looks set to sign for Newcastle despite the Arsenal boss being confident he would agree the one-year deal being offered at the Emirates.

Missing out on Campbell has left Wenger short of centre-back options following the departures of Silvestre, Gallas and Senderos, leaving him just Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou (who picked up a knock yesterday) to choose from.

So at least one more centre-back is needed and the Mirror reports that the Frenchman has identified  25-year-old Mertesacker as his number one target after giving up on Everton’s Phil Jagielka after having a £14m bid rejected. Wenger has watched the Werder Bremen star several times and believes he can snap him up for £10m as he only has two years remaining on his current contract.

Arsene Wenger hopes chief executive Ivan Gazidis can secure a swift deal for Mertesacker, but has already named his back-up options in Ajax’s Jan Vertonghen and Dynamo Kiev’s Pape Diakhate should their bid for the German fail.

Personally, i would love to see Mertesacker at the Emirates. He is a giant at 6ft 6″ and at 25 is coming into the prime of his career. He is also vastly experienced and has shown he can do it at the top level. If he is available for anywhere near £10m, we should snap him up now.