 We needed Hangeland a year ago, not now we have Vermaelen
We need a right-footed no-nonsense defender to complement him
I was very keen last season that we should sign Brede Hangeland. I identified early in the campaign that Hangeland was a new Vidic and that he would be immense for Arsenal. We didn’t sign him though and instead we brought in Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax last summer. Vermaelen has been immense and now he needs an equally high-level partner. That partner though is not Brede Hangeland.
Hangeland is far too similar to Vermaelen. Partnerships need a fusion of skills, bringing together elements which are not common to both but a combination of what each other brings. We don’t need two left-footed central defenders. They would get in each other’s way. It wouldn’t work. This also rules out bringing back Matthew Upson, who frankly is not the answer anyway. The combination of the left-footed football-playing Vermaelen with the right-footed determined William Gallas worked well this season. It wasn’t perfect and, despite being an acclaimed partnership, we still conceded bad goals. Vermaelen and Gallas worked because it was a balance. Vermaelen and Hangeland would not be balanced, they would try to take up the same positions. In fact I think Hangeland would be made to look cumbersome and that is in nobody’s interests. Vermaelen started the season very well but did get sloppy later, partly when he lost his regular partner. At home to Barcelona we lost Gallas to injury, Alex Song moved back to partner Vermaelen and was blamed or both of Ibrahimovic’s goal. Take another look: Vermaelen was the one at fault, at least initially, as he made the first mistakes which put our goal in danger and left Song exposed. Song is not a central defender for me: he is not alert enough, on his toes to react as needs must. A really strong central defender must be like a Presidential bodyguard, ready to throw himself into the line of fire without a second’s self-regard. Arsenal need to find a new right-footed no-nonsense bodyguard of a defender to complement Thomas Vermaelen. If Sol Campbell and William Gallas were each five years younger then we would have no problem and would have three high-quality central defenders. Unfortunately they aren’t and we don’t. Campbell is admirable and wants to do the right thing but one more year of cover is surely as good as it gets now for Sol and that is based on regular fitness. Gallas looks likely to leave and is getting more niggling injuries in any case. We need a ‘none shall pass character’, like we had with Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown. A young Campbell or Gallas would be ideal. If we do have some money to spend once again we could afford to be bold. Is Micah Richards still good enough to progress and become a main man at Arsenal? Or has he messed about too much in recent times and lost some of what he had? He could be ideal and, being out of favour at Manchester City, it may not take too much cash to prise him away. The best experienced examples out there of what we need are people like Nemanja Vidic, John Terry, Jamie Carragher, Walter Samuel and Lucio. We aren’t going to get these people but that is the sort of player we need, to complement Vermaelen. Carragher is an interesting one though. A Scouser through and through, with lots of family in Liverpool, Carragher is practically part of the Anfield furniture. He is preparing a testimonial for September. It would take a lot to remove him from all of that. On the other hand, Carragher has only one year left on his contract and Liverpool have not been quick to open discussions. He has said that he would be prepared to move to another club if Liverpool don’t come forward. Hello, I sniff a chance. It would be interesting to see what Liverpool and Carragher would do if Arsenal tested that water and put in a bid for him, made a real concerted play for him. Carragher wants to win the Premier League. He wants to play Champions League football. He won’t be doing any of that at Liverpool any time soon but, at Arsenal, he would be walking straight into a back four of a team that can compete in both and desperately needs him to help it to happen. Some observers might say that Carragher is too old now, he has no resale value and wouldn’t leave Liverpool. I’m not so sure. He is 32. So what. We need experience. Who needs resale value off a 32 year-old? He surely would not cost much, so it would be sound business. If Arsenal made a solid bid for Carragher I think he would fancy the idea: the rest would be down to how much Liverpool show they want to keep him. If Manchester United tried to sign Carragher I’m sure many Arsenal supporters would think “why didn’t we try to do that?”. Nevermind how weak Mikael Silvestre has been, or how other 30-plus Arsenal players have only received one-year deals, Carragher would be a steal on a two-year deal. He would also be an excellent English-speaking link to Joe Hart if we signed him too. Jamie Carragher has often talked highly of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. I would have no problem if we tried to sign him. Micah Richards is an Arsenal fan; if he still has what it takes, Richards would surely give his all to be the best partner possible for Vermaelen. Carragher and Richards both deserve better, Arsenal could give them that platform and would benefit enormously. So I would be quite happy this summer if Arsenal signed Hart as our new goalkeeper, either if not both of the versatile Carragher and Richards, Wigan's Mohamed Diame as the central midfield brute and Marouane Chamakh in attack as expected. Let battle commence. By the way, you can now follow me on Twitter, at http://twitter.com/thatsimonrose.
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Posted 13th May 2010
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