Vermaelen not a £10 million swoop & his number hinges on Senderos' future
By Randy Osae
Arsenal paid less than the reported £10 million for latest signing Thomas Vermaelen.
Tabloids had suggested that Wenger broke his record of a fee for a defensive player by splashing that amount but according to the other hand of the handshake, Ajax, Vermaelen came for a bargain.
The Dutch club have revealed that the Belgian was sold to Arsenal for €10 million which can only equal about £8.5 million. (click here to read Ajax’s statement)
There is an agreement of an additional €2 million should the player excel at his new club.
But Arsenal’s version of Vidic may have come for cheap.
It may not matter as much as the length of his contract or weekly wages but Thomas Vermaelen may still be craving a shirt number now that he has been named an Arsenal player .
The Belgian defender completed a smooth transfer to Arsenal which lacked any agent merry-go-round talks nor Wenger’s contradicting denials yesterday.
After the transfer which was formatted within a short fortnight was done on Friday, kit manager Vic Akers decided not to assign a squad number to Thomas Vermaelen as it may be a premature move.
Vermaelen is believed to prefer the soon to be available and famous # 6 but the decision to not hand him that number implies that Phillipe Senderos future is still unresolved.
The Swiss defender is bound to remain in Milan and unless Wenger intends to own a collection of centre-backs in his now deep squad, Senderos should make Vermaelen’s preferable # 6 vacant soon.
Shirt number 13 – previously worn by Alex Hleb – is also available but that and # 6 are the only void numbers between 1-20.
Vermaelen, who modeled the # 4 at Ajax is likely to choose another single-digit number once Phillipe Senderos’ departure is confirmed.
hope hes good n worth the money.
How do you know that AW did not pay the 10mil euros?
How much did we pay then?
If we had a choice between selling senderos, silvestre toure, traroe, eboue… which would you choose Arsenalspot? Doesnt great clubs have big squads? I cant understand why silvestre is still there, and why we would try to let toure leave. If we were winning throuphies then they would be willing to be on the bench for a great club. Ferdinand, wes brown, vidic and oshea are all great centre backs, and fullbacks are not even mentioned in that list. Those are 4players that probably could start at arsenal. Its sad. WE have toure, gallas, djourou, silvestre, that is sad. we need a big squad. Toure will go on african cup of nations , plus gallas is injury prowned. SO having toure, gallas, vermaelen and senderos is, ok. Silvestre is not a first team player pressently so i guess he doesnt count. WHo would you sell?
i would sell silvestre and eboue because silvestre is well past his sell by date. He is always injured he was a great player at man u now hes gone to arsenal he’s shit. NOT a good signing WENGER. i would also sell eboue because he’s not a first team regular and he’s always making mistakes Sell him. keep senderos and traroe because i think they have great futures at the club
Jesus Saves – Out of those choices you gave, I would offload Silvestre. He does have a use at the club, but promises little compared to others in that particular category.
If you ask me the whole number system needs refreshing.
If i were to decide then i would have it like this:
1Almunia
2 Sagna
3 Clichy
4 Fabregas
5 Toure or Gallas (depending on whether one leaves or not)
6 Vermaelen
7 Rosicky
8 Nasri
9 Eduardo
10 Arshavin
11 Van Persie.
Not the first team i would chose but no point reshuffling all the numbers. Diaby having 2, Sagna 3 (which is supposed to be left back imo), Gallas having no.10. I dont like such stupid dis-organisation. Its not too much to ask to have the number alocation in a sensible order.
Just someting small and something im just nit-picking at i know. But i think it looks more professional to have it in order.
u r spot on Stu,bt yeh senderos and silvestr HAVE 2 leave,and we MUST bring in a BIG CB dnt u think guys?????i mean even if verl iz good he stil cnt b a bullier in the air ad thats what we been missing 4 years no???defence i would have,sagna/Toure/???? the big CB/Clincy tthen a back up in evry position Eboue/ver/gallas/gibs……now thats more like a wining defence no??another £10m or so on a big CB then the defence is sorted 4 YEAAARZ!!!eaaaazeh!!peace
I can understand what you’re saying on first sight Am’z but i’m guessing you haven’t seen the Verminator play/captain for Ajax have you?! He’s great in the air and very wirey. It takes a lot to get him off the ball mate you’ll be surprised. We’ve got a great defender now, an actual out and out defender……
Gallas or Toure must go simply coz they dont work well together. Senderos shouldnt even play in the first division.. Its strikes me funny how some players manage to leak through to the first league when they are barely reserve grade bench warmers at best…eboue included
Silvester ought 2 b offloaded cos his an injury model, lack pace(did u see him against Drogba in d FA Cup?). Ebuoe was once favourite 2 bt Sagna has it. Everybody cant start at d same time so If his unhappy, show him d exit. I wud kip Senderos, he has a promising future. Traore cud b our ashley young. His too gud on d flanks. For me, i wud like a line up like dis 1. Almunia 2. Sagna 3. Clichy 4. Song 5. Kolo 6. Vermaleen 7. Nasri 8. Van P. 9 Adebayor 10. Captain fab 11. Arshavin. Rosicky, Walcot, traore, cud stil sub any body on d Flanks while Diaby wud hav 2 b loaned 2 Bolton 2 learn hard tackling. +2347031019196
I’d actually prefer it if we kept Eboue. SHOCK!!!
Pay him enough, he’d be happy on the bench. I started last season telling all my mates that I predicted he would be a revelation for Arsenal. he was – but not in the way I intended!!
Eboue annoys me, rolling around after being clattered – although I think he has improved in this area. And I know he has been an easy target this past season, especially after THAT match.
However, he can be a solid defender and can be a REAL THREAT/PROVIDER GOING FORWARD. His crossing is excellent and his pace is superb.
I know he’s a whinging diver on occasions, but if he can iron that out of his game, I think he can be a real asset to the club.
Silvestre too old, slow, whatever. Got us a few useful goals though.
Toure? love him. But if he can’t replicate 2003-2007, then let him go and grab the money. Arsene probably does know afterall. Maybe.
i wouldnt worry too much about toure or senderos leaving…sell any one…and we cud use the cash to buy melo…cuz song can play cd also…so he cud be in the back 4 with melo as the defensive midfielder…..sounds good atleast on paper…and we would have option in defence and midfield both….
49 unbeaten ur rite i have seen enough of Ver at all,bt u recon hes strong enough 2 handle the likes of drogba and carew etc.?????i realy duno as i havent ssenhim but i would have imagend a BIGGER CB will be the solution no?jus DO NOT GET OF THE FANS who say they arent botherd if KING KOLO GOES this and that,how??so MR SONG can play there coz hes better or even more silvstre ha??KOLO IS the BEST defender we have,better than clincy and sagna,he jus out of form a little bit but hes the onlyt REAL WARRIOR we have in defence,he battles the all match and we need MORE like him NOT selling him.
Ship out : Adebayor,Bendtner,Diaby,Sanderos & Silvestre.
This should be the new line-up & new numbering for Arsenal 2009/2010.
1.Manuel Almunia.
2.Gael Clichy.
3.Bacary Sagna.
4.Francesc Fabregas.
5.Kolo Toure.
6.Thomas Vermaelen(New).
7.Tomas Rosicky.
8.Samir Nasri.
9.Eduardo Da Slva.
10.Andrei Arshavin.
11.Robin Van Persie.
12.Carlos Vela.
13.William Gallas.
14.Walcott.
15.Denílson Pereira Neves.
16.Aaron Ramsey.
17.Alex Song.
18.Felipe Melo(New).
19.Jack Wilshere.
20.Johan Djourou.
21.Lucas Fabianski.
22.Kieren Gibbs.
23.Emmanuel Ebue.
24.Vito Mannone.
25.Marouane Chamakh(New).
26.Jermaine Defoe(New).
First 11 :
1.Almunia
3.Sagna 5.Toure 6.Vermaelen 2.Clichy
18.Melo
14.Walcott 4.Fabregas 10.Arshavin
11.Robin 9.Eduardo
Supersubs :
21.Fabianski
23.Ebue 20.Djourou 13.Gallas 22.Gibbs
17.Song
8.Nasri 7.Rosicky 12.Vela
25.Chamakh 26.Defoe
That’s all & we are ready to rule the world.
Cheers
I’d have these numbers:
Gallas 2
Vermaelen 6
Arshavin 10 (23)
NEW DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER 13
Diaby 28
NEW STRIKER? (10) Just in case
Just a quick comment from above, where did J Defoe and F Melo come from ?? am I reading a different tabloid ??????
Defoe is not good enough in my book !! But seriously after countless yet pointless signings i.e
Silvestre
Bischoff ( who did absolutely nothing may I add)
AW has finally made a great signing in Vermaelen and of course Arshavin, It’s great too see some power and experience being added in the squad. Good Luck Arsenal and good luck AW..
Arsenal for life……