It’s probably bullshit and abit of a pipe dream but I’m praying we’re in for Van Dijk, we’d arguably have one of if not the best back 3’s in the league (I’m a little biased) if we managed to nab him.
The likes of Monreal, Mertesacker & Holding would still get more than enough game time too and on top of that splashing 50-60mil on Van Dijk would show Alexis and Özil we’re not fucking around aswell.
Not only that but with Koscienly’s achilles, the BFG retiring at the end of the season & Gabriel and Chambers likely to be on the way out we’re crying out for a new centre back, especially one on VVD’s level. He fit’s the profile perfectly + his an absolute beast.
With Per retiring and Koscielny on his last legs due to injury and age, we really need to invest in a long term established CB by next season. VvD would be perfect but reckon Liverpool is his likely deatination. We will instead panic buy next summer most likely.
In theory you shouldn’t be spending huge amounts on defenders. They’re traditionally one of the cheapest players on the pitch, external factors will usually increase the price but there still tremendous value in the market if you look properly
Koscieny is one of those players who could have an arteta-esque decline. For a player who has relied so much on pace and plagued by niggling injuries koscileny is a ticking time bomb. I don’t think we’re far away from Koscilenys next injury to be 6months+.
Shifting Gabriel in for someone like Van Dijk makes perfect sense to me.
With the injury records of Koscielny and Mustafi combined with playing three at the back there will be huge opportunity for Holding to pick up serious minutes. Including the fact we will have a bloated season this year with Europa.
Especially since Wenger has shown a clear liking to him and hasn’t been afraid to use him (which is what has stopped other players in the past).
Koscielny ending up like Arteta or Santi feels inevitable to me.
A bit of a risk going into next summer needing to somehow replace 2 elite forwards with the potential to be in a bad situation at the back with Per retiring and Koscielny admittedly suffering from chronic issues.
We won’t sign VVD, he’ll cost over 60m and this is just a case of our name being used. It doesn’t look like we’re prepared to goto 60m for Lemar so we won’t be doing so for VVD
He’s probably the best central defender in the league but he won’t be coming to Arsenal. We made our big money centre half signing when we signed Mustafi from Valencia 12 months ago.
The correct signing to make but way, way out of our league. Already laying out a heavy fee for Lacazette + possibly adding 1 or 2 more could easily see us spending near £150M on three alone. Add Dicky boy and we’re well over our heads I reckon, no matter how much the seniors spout on that we have funds available.
There were factors keeping that transferred fee relatively low, if he was willing to move abroad they could have got way more for him. It doesn’t really make sense to use his transfer to Milan as some sort of benchmark for what defenders should cost.