Thomas Vermaelen

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Revan said:
I think that I am on the minority that thinks Vermaelen is a good defender. The only problem I see in this signing are his injuries, but as a player he is good (I rate him at around the same level as Evans), is great from corners, is a good passer of the ball and is a left footer.

If we are confident that the injuries are past it (don't know if this is possible) then I would be ok with this signing.
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No you are not, I think he is a good defender, he was excellant at Ajax and at the beginning of his career at Arsenal but his progress has been hampered by injuries somewhat. He has good strength, pace and other qualities to be a good CB. I think he would be a great signing.
 
Dr Baltar said:
I definitely wouldn't put on any money on it that's for sure!

I can't imagine van Gaal will pin all of our defensive planning next year on the assumption Vermaelen will be fit all the time so we'll probably get someone else. If he plays three at the back I can see Evra being used there as well.
He obviously sees something in him & £11 million isn't that much money in this day and age. We only paid a little less for Powell & Bebe & more for Zaha. If it goes tits up we could always get a few million back for him anyway.
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I'd rather use Michael Keane at CB than Evra.
 
Don't get this transfer at all if it happens. I've always thought of Vermaelen as quite injury-prone and overrated when he does play.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I also find it hard to get on board with centre backs who aren't over 6ft... true, Vermaelen is 6ft exactly, but that inch makes a big difference.

Or so they tell me...
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I don't think that height is very important if the defender is really good. Baresi who is regarded as the best centerback of all time was 5'9'', the same height as Fabio Cannavaro who won a Ballon D'Or. Even the great Beckenbauer was slightly shorter than 6 feet while an another great defender, Daniel Passarella was 5'8''.

Obviously it helps on the heading, but still I can think that good defenders can easily compensate for it, especially Vermaelen who has a really great jump. In fact I just realized that he an inch or two taller than Phil Jones.
 
Revan said:
I don't think that height is very important if the defender is really good. Baresi who is regarded as the best centerback of all time was 5'9'', the same height as Fabio Cannavaro who won a Ballon D'Or. Even the great Beckenbauer was slightly shorter than 6 feet while an another great defender, Daniel Passarella was 5'8''.

Obviously it helps on the heading, but still I can think that good defenders can easily compensate for it, especially Vermaelen who has a really great jump. In fact I just realized that he an inch or two taller than Phil Jones.
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It was mostly a tounge-in-cheek post... but I do start off skeptical on smaller centre-backs until they prove me wrong (as the two you've mentioned obviously have done)... another one is Ivan Cordoba - though he had a ridiculously good leap on him.

Also, according to wiki, Vermaelen is an inch shorter than Jones... what are we to believe?!?
 
Looks like it's happening and no matter which way I view it, I don't think this will be a good signing. Maybe it's them returning Silvestre in a different form.
 
I guess his links to Ajax (they're trained a certain way and to a specific system from youth level) is a big reason behind this.
Whatever style and shape we end up with under Van Gaal, it wont be too far from what Ajax have used and continue to use.
So it may be as simple as him rating Vermaelen more highly than most of us and thinking he'll fit the system due to his time at Ajax.

Still not overly excited by this - injury record aside, but maybe a system closer to that of Ajax (with a different approach to defending as a team) will make him look a better player.
 
Have anybody made an observation that he'll be another captain to leave their club. Different circumstance this time but still.
 
I don't see the problem with this signing, was a great defender a few seasons back, never really got a run of games lately because Arsenals CB's have been playing well, if he gets a run of games I think he could recapture his old form. Plus he's experienced and won't cost a bomb.
 
He'll be fine for the role on the left in a three. I'm buggered if I know who fits the central role though.
 
Not particularly enthused by being linked with him. He's never been great defensively and has a poor injury record, although obviously he's very good on the ball. If we signed him as our only new CB this summer I think it'd be a huge vote of confidence for Jones and Smalling who are undoubtedly our two more physical options in that position now Vidic has left.
 
Cletus said:
My memory of him was being quite good with scoring goals and clean sheets in his prime (Premier League Fantasy Football must have). Lately I don't recall him doing much of either. I'd be fine with it if he wasn't bought to be our first choice.
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Mainly due to injuries and the stronger-than-the-sum-of-its-parts partnership of Koscielny and Mertesacker. This is one thing that puzzles me, if it was a question of LVG unearthing the form he had 3 years ago, then i could maybe understand, but he can't do a lot for him on the treatment table.
 
I think he is a solid defender, but why another injury-prone one? If we sign a CB, it should be finally a player, who can play most of the games this season.
 
Seems an utterly pointless one.

We have 3 steady decent centre backs, we need a top one to pair with one of them, not some stopgap who can't even get into Arsenal's team.
 
Revan said:
I don't think that height is very important if the defender is really good. Baresi who is regarded as the best centerback of all time was 5'9'', the same height as Fabio Cannavaro who won a Ballon D'Or. Even the great Beckenbauer was slightly shorter than 6 feet while an another great defender, Daniel Passarella was 5'8''.

Obviously it helps on the heading, but still I can think that good defenders can easily compensate for it, especially Vermaelen who has a really great jump. In fact I just realized that he an inch or two taller than Phil Jones.
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These players didn't excel in a league as long ball and physical as the premier league can be though.

Could you imagine lining up against Stoke and West Ham with the 5ft 8/9 centre backs?

Fergie used to leave Rafael out at right back quite often against physical teams!
 
Sandikan said:
Seems an utterly pointless one.

We have 3 steady decent centre backs, we need a top one to pair with one of them, not some stopgap who can't even get into Arsenal's team.
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Perfectly fit Vermaelen is better than all our centre defenders but that's the problem... he's not fit anymore to play on his good old level.
 
Van Piorsing said:
Perfectly fit Vermaelen is better than all our centre defenders but that's the problem... he's not fit anymore to play on his good old level.
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A perfectly fit Vermaelen was still dodgy defensively. Smalling isnt. Vermaelen is obviously a lot better on the ball, but we have a safer less mistake prone CB already and a perfectly fit and on form Evans is there too.
 
Van Piorsing said:
Perfectly fit Vermaelen is better than all our centre defenders but that's the problem... he's not fit anymore to play on his good old level.
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A perfectly fit Jones could easily become better than Vermaelen. He hasn't been the same player for 3 years and never will be I suggest. Lovren is better why not go for him? Its an insane move whatever way you try to rationalise it.
 
Sandikan said:
These players didn't excel in a league as long ball and physical as the premier league can be though.

Could you imagine lining up against Stoke and West Ham with the 5ft 8/9 centre backs?

Fergie used to leave Rafael out at right back quite often against physical teams!
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Rafael won a couple of headers against Carroll and never had problems against big strikers. Do you really think that some of the greatest ever defenders like Baresi would have struggled against Stoke fecking City?

Serie A teams cross as much as EPL teams. And their strikers are big too.

I really don't now if your post was parody of English journos or simply naive.
 
Revan said:
Rafael won a couple of headers against Carroll and never had problems against big strikers. Do you really think that some of the greatest ever defenders like Baresi would have struggled against Stoke fecking City?

Serie A teams cross as much as EPL teams. And their strikers are big too.

I really don't now if your post was parody of English journos or simply naive.
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Why was Rafael often left out against physical teams then?

baresi and the like would wipe the floor with limited oaf strikers yes, but in certain ways would struggle. Long high balls being one. We're talking excessively long ball physical teams like Stoke and West Ham, not just standard teams with normal crossing.
 
Sandikan said:
Why was Rafael often left out against physical teams then?
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Because Fergie said so. Doesn't mean that he was correct though.

Sandikan said:
baresi and the like would wipe the floor with limited oaf strikers yes, but in certain ways would struggle. Long high balls being one.
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How many times Cannavaro struggled against Luca Toni? Has ever been a striker on England who was as good as Toni on the air?
 
Revan said:
Because Fergie said so. Doesn't mean that he was correct though.



How many times Cannavaro struggled against Luca Toni? Has ever been a striker on England who was as good as Toni on the air?
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Can't judge much on Toni. The only times I ever saw him play were for the national team, where he looked cumbersome and a real oaf. Can't remember him being an aerial demon.
 
Sandikan said:
Can't judge much on Toni. The only times I ever saw him play were for the national team, where he looked cumbersome and a real oaf. Can't remember him being an aerial demon.
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Do you watch Serie A?

Toni may be the best striker in the air I have ever seen. It is between him and Borgetti.
 
Revan said:
Do you watch Serie A?

Toni may be the best striker in the air I have ever seen. It is between him and Borgetti.
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I watched it in the earlier days. Don't remember too much high ball action over there compared to the Premier league.
 
Revan said:
There is. Crossing is probably even more important than in EPL.
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all this banter aside, it's Vermaelen we're talking about, not one of the best defenders of all time, so still do not want.
 
A difficult signing to get excited about, but he's presumably a bit of a leader, being Arsenal captain (although Fabregas and Gallas weren't exactly brilliant leaders), and considering we've lost Rio, Vidic and Giggs on the pitch, we could possibly do with some more players to provide leadership.

Shaw and Herrera are pretty good signings, maybe we're just evening it out again.
 
Tomorrow's Mirror says we're aiming to tie up a £10m deal for him when he gets back from the World Cup.
 
Santos J said:
Tomorrow's Mirror says we're aiming to tie up a £10m deal for him when he gets back from the World Cup.
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Arsenal will snap our hands off at that, on first glance seems a much better deal for Arsenal, but if we can get him back properly fit again then he'll be our best defender.
 
I could get on board with this if he wasn't so injury prone.
 
Hopefully it's only a 2/3 year deal or something. He can never stay fit.

Also, Arsenal have been linked with no CB's (or have they?) and are set to lose Vermaelen and have already lost Sagna who could fill in at CB? That leaves them with only Koscielny and Mertesacker right?
 
C'est Moi Cantona said:
Arsenal will snap our hands off at that, on first glance seems a much better deal for Arsenal, but if we can get him back properly fit again then he'll be our best defender.
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Will he feck. Was overrated in his first season here because he scored a fair amount of goals and he's all round a poor defender, just good on the ball. Smalling & Evans are both comfortably better.
 
I think we need two centre backs anyway, so Vermaelan for £10 million isn't really that bad, as long as we get another world class centre back such as Hummels or Benatia to complement him.

Hummels, Vermaelan, Jones, Smalling and Evans are good enough options for two centre back spots next season.
 
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