Arsenal Transfer Target – Kieran Richardson: We Rate The Chances Of A Deal

In the wake of a shock defeat away to Fulham where our absence of fullbacks cost us dear, with Djourou seeing red after filling in at right back, Arsene Wenger has specifically talked about bolstering the defence with a loan signing:

“We lost Vermaelen for two or three weeks, so I have to look if I can find somebody, only a loan. It would be stupid for us to drop points because we don’t have a left-back.”

The Daily Mail and Mirror have said that Sunderland winger Kieran Richardson is the man who Wenger wants on a loan deal to play at left back – despite the fact Monday’s game showed us we are just as weak at right back.

What’s his pedigree?

Born in London and having trained with Arsenal as a youngster, Richardson failed to establish himself during five seasons at Old Trafford, where he started as a left back but move into central midfield and to the left side of midfield, and moved to Sunderland in the summer of 2007 for £5.5 million. While he has played in all of these positions as well as a support striker for the Wearside club, unlike during his time at United he has been a consistent fixture in the first team despite the fact the club have churned through four managers since he joined. Richardson has 8 England caps and 2 goals but hasn’t played for the senior side since his time at United during the Steve McLaren era even though he is touted by many Sunderland fans for a call up.

How’s the chemistry?

Richardson would definitely fit in with Arsene Wenger’s philosophy of playing wingers at left back, and he is very similar to Andre Santos when played in this position as he bombs forward and is among the goals, including from free kicks (2 goals and 3 assists in 18 games so far this season). Defensively, Richardson is very committed and is quicker than any fullback we have at the club at the moment; however, his tenacious attitude in the tackle is also accompanied by an arrogance and a 5’9″ stature may be regarded as too short when looking at defensive replacements.

Do we have a chance?

Many Arsenal fans will laugh at these transfer rumours as Richardson clearly isn’t a world class replacement to bring in, but when you consider that we don’t have any world class left backs at the club at the moment in addition to the fact this would be a loan deal, he’s definitely more preferable to Wayne Bridge, for example. New Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill will be looking to buy rather than sell this window though, and any loan move for him would depend on Sunderland’s market activity. In addition to this it is hard to see why Sunderland would loan us a first team regular, especially since he is being played in his preferred left wing position there (unless it was part of a permanent deal for Bendtner).

Possible Deal: Short-term Loan (2-3 months)     Probability: 3.5/10