The summer transfer window of 2013 has so far been dominated by Arsenal’s search for a star striker (e.g. Suarez, Higuain), but have we somewhat been blinded by the thoughts of Wenger dusting off the chequebook? Forget about your €50,000,000 atypical ego-maniac striker with teething problems we have other priorities Gooners!!

Crisis in Waiting

At present Arsenal have 3 first team centre-backs

- Thomas Vermaelen (Injured, back in October)
- Laurent Koscielny
- Per Mertesacker

With the removal of Johan Djourou(On-Loan: Hamburger SV) & Sebastian Squillaci(Free-Transfer to Bastia) from the squad we are now quite short at the centre-back position with many expecting Bacary Sagna to deputise for the coming season in response to injuries but is that really how to challenge for a title?

Looking Back

I personally despite our attractive style of football believe the centre-back pairing to be as essential to a title challenge as a 25+ goal striker all the greatest teams have had fantastic pairings at centre-back especially at Arsenal with the likes of Sol Campbell, Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Steve Bould. . . . . . Kolo Toure all donning the Red & White jersey in the hunt for silverware.

Most importantly of all we had depth, this year, for the first in many we finally have a settled team and series of domineering performances ending the season on a high especially in the defensive department, but I feel we need to add another centre-back even more so than a striker, especially due to our tendency to pick up numerous injuries at a time but also the sight of 4 world class centre backs is the sign of a great team.

What do we need?

Due to the similarity of Koscielny & Vermaelen as our no-nonsense defenders I feel we need to look at a player of a similar style to Per Mertesacker within Arsenal circles he has been lauded as a revelation due to his calming influence at the back. But what is this calming Influence?, let’s look at the figures:

*Figures courtesy of Whoscored.com

Analysis

From the above stats you can clearly see that Koscielny is our more aggressive centre-back while Mertesacker tends to play the ball more making himself available for passes to relieve pressure especially from Arteta (91.5% Success, 80.1 passes per game) and Sagna (86.8% Success, 59.9 passes per game) showing us what this calming effect is actually coming from and why Ramsey (88.2% success, 53.7 per game) benefited Arteta so much so at the end of the season by being an extra available option.

The Perfect Backup Centre-back?

So from the above statistics we can see we need a centre-back who has:

- Aerial Ability (seen as our weakness by some)
- Excellent Positioning (Free for the Ball, Offside Line)
- Supports Ball Retention (Always available for a pass)
- Technically Gifted (Rather play the ball than blast it clear)
- Preferably 20-26 (to provide future back line continuity)
- Under €10,000,000 (if we’re spending big on a striker)

Hello is it me your looking for?

So here is my shortlist of the most suitable young centre-backs in Europe’s top leagues all of which have their own pros and cons but most importantly these four players are all comfortable on the ball and in the air, many other quality centre-backs have been disregarded due to being too old (e.g. Mexes) to provide continuity or too expensive (e.g. Subotic, Sakho) to be a typical Wenger purchase.

*Figures Courtesy of Whoscored.com

Let’s start with Savic who has been immense since he left English football. Would he dare return now that his confidence has returned just check him out in this video he may not make the amount of tackles as the other options but you’re not likely to forget them, He has quiet a bullish persona never far off his mark much like Koscielny in that respect, rumours are Borussia & Bayern were interested at the start of the summer but as yet no move has materialised as of yet .

Philipp Wollscheid has been fantastic for Leverkusen especially in the last run of games in the Bundesliga with some no nonsense defending conceding a mere 2 goals in the last 5 games. Athletically of a similar build to our very own BFG and showing immense potential perhaps a perfect understudy? With the immediate ability to step in.

Michael Mancienne the former Wolves and Chelsea man is the most readily available due to Hamburger SV’s (Where Djourou is currently on loan: Bargaining Chip) financial crisis and would provide a bargain for some serious aerial strength getting in the top 30 most aerial wins per game. Some may be reluctant to take Chelsea’s leavings, but could prove a shrewd move or more poignantly a typical Wenger diamond in the rough found down the back of the couch on a lazy Sunday morning while eating his Cheerios in the nip.

Chico Flores is no stranger to Arsenal fans and he presents fantastic on the ball skills, Swansea may prove reluctant to give him up, but less so than their Captain Ashley Williams who is continuously linked with Arsenal, even though he remains second to Flores in almost every statistic. Chico may have notoriety for his picking up yellow cards, but still who wants a nice footballer in your back line who is afraid to get dirty on a wet and windy day in the Britannia Stadium, not me my ideal centre-backs is like my ideal women insanely dirty.

To conclude, I see Chico as our ideal candidate he currently plays in a very similar system to ours, there is no shortage of Spanish players at Arsenal to help him settle and all eyes are currently on his partner rather than him (Flashbacks of Nasri/Ben Arfa anyone?). He also has the added benefit of playing a year in the Premier League already so Wenger sign him up before he discovers he has Barca DNA.

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