Arsenal Defender To Leave This Month?

The January transfer window may have slammed shut but clubs will still be working hard behind the scenes at identifying targets for the summer, so we’ll bring you all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Gooner Mac gives us news of interest in Thomas Vermaelen.

Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg are set to make a late move to try and tempt Arsenal into selling Thomas Vermaelen before the end of the month, according to the Daily Mail.

The English transfer window may have slammed shut but the Russian one remains open until the 24th of February and it seems Zenit have their eye on Arsenal’s unused skipper.

Vermaelen has endured a nightmare 12 months after losing his place in Arsene Wenger’s starting eleven, with Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny forging a formidable partnership at the back.

With the World Cup just around the corner and Belgian boss Marc Wilmots having an abundance of defensive talents to choose from, you wouldn’t blame the 28-year-old if he was keen to leave the club in search of regular first team football.

The Mail claim that Zenit are ready to give him guaranteed action in the run-up to the summer and will tempt Arsenal with an ‘attractive’ offer to see if they are willing to cash-in.

However, it’s almost certain that we will resist any offers for Vermaelen, no matter how appealing the offer might be, as we can’t bring in a replacement and centre-back is an area we are already lacking depth in.

Mertesacker and Koscielny’s partnership is the bed-rock of our success this season but Vermaelen is going to be needed if anything happens to one of the duo. We have little back-up behind the Belgian international, with right-back Bacary Sagna seen as our fourth-choice central defender, so there is no chance Wenger would allow him to leave now.

We’re in the title race and have some huge games coming up, and in football things can change very quickly, so who knows, Vermaelen may have a big part to play at the Emirates during the coming months.

READ MORE – Arsenal linked with summer move for Balotelli

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