Arsenal sign defender

[rebel23]

Arsenal Complete Signing Of Thomas Vermaelen

Arsenal have confirmed that they have signed Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax this evening, with the Dutch club reporting the deal is worth €12 million.

The 23-year-old defender joins from Ajax on a long-term contract and has plenty of experience having played 143 matches for the Amsterdam team.

Speaking about the signing, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the official club website that he believes Vermalen will strengthen the side.

"Thomas is a great signing for Arsenal Football Club, and we are all delighted that he is joining us. Thomas is a solid performer with good experience of Champions League and UEFA Cup football and is also a regular with the Belgium national team," he explained.

"Thomas is primarily a left-footed centre back, but he’s multi-functional and can also play at left back. He is strong technically with a positive winner’s attitude and I have no doubt his arrival will strengthen our team. Thomas Vermaelen will be a huge asset to Arsenal."
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is he any good then ?

 

[SaintGeorge67]

He'd better be for Arsene's sake for that kind of money.

 

[Judge Jules]

Wenger doesn't have a great track record with signing defenders. There's also talk that Toure might be on his bike which, if true, would mean this Vermaelen character will only be replacing someone, not adding to their defensive strength, even if he is good enough.

If I were a Gooner I'm not sure how satisfied I'd be with the position.

 

[Hansern]

I've never been impressed when Ive seen him play. Good technical ability but a bit error prone. Very expensive though, odd signing if you ask me. Will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the premier league.

 

[zlatan18]

he is good! better than toure and gallas and younger

 

[mark1975]

Wenger in youngster over experience shocka!

 

[gkmacca]

'Multi-functional'! He does talk some shite, and he manages to make players sound like androids.

 

[nornirongooner]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=34272.msg891692#msg891692 date=1245446774]
Wenger doesn't have a great track record with signing defenders. There's also talk that Toure might be on his bike which, if true, would mean this Vermaelen character will only be replacing someone, not adding to their defensive strength, even if he is good enough.

If I were a Gooner I'm not sure how satisfied I'd be with the position.
[/quote]

He's signed some poor defenders but so has everyone. Remember he brought the likes of Campbell, Clichy, Sagna and Toure to Arsenal

 

[Judge Jules]

It's true that his defensive signings haven't all been poor by any means, but he has an unusually high percentage of failures - Luzhny, Cygan, Stepanovs to name a few.

 

[Oncy]

They really needed a good centre back.
Now just a keeper and a dm and theyre laughing.
Their attacking line up-rosicky, fabregas, eduardo, vela, adebayor, arshavin, van persie, walcott is second to non. Theyve got 2 top fullbacks and denilson/diaby can do a job. Their keeper is awful and they MUST buy a top class EXPERIENCED holding player.
..........
Clichy
Vermaelen
gallas
Sagna

Fabregas
............

Arshavin
Rosicky
Walcott

Adebayor

bench-bendtner, kolo, diaby, almunia, eduardo, vanpersie, vela, denilson, silvestre etc

they arent in as bad nick as is made out.
Oh and Wilshire is going to be amazing.

 

[RealRedBlood]

their keeper has actually been more than decent so that isn't really a worry for them. they do need a DM to partner fabregas in midfield though. and need to add a top quality defender if Toure does leave. so at the moment other than a DM they are fine as far as the starting XI is concerned, squad depth is another matter.