Thomas Vermaelen

Status
Not open for further replies.
First came looked very good but injuries and a lack of football went right off the radar. Really depends on whether he can capture his previous form.....
 
We only need four centre backs unless we want to play three at the back next season. Two signings are unnecessary, have a bit of faith in the defenders currently at our disposal.
 
Santos J said:
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.
Click to expand...

Evans maybe but he is more injury prone than this guy, Smalling no chance just don't rate him, think he could be a gonna under LvG.

Vermaelen is decent, he was given the captaincy for crying out loud, not saying he is my first choice but he isn't as bad as some would have you think.
 
SonnyTheHaloPro said:
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.
Click to expand...

5 would be overkill, we've not had a settled backline for ages and that's been a problem for us. Hummels would be a starter for sure but then you have Jones, Smalling & Evans who are all getting to the point where they need regular games and to get a consistent partnership going with someone, an extra one on top of that would be a hinderance, especially when it's someone like Vermaelen.
 
Yeah maybe, but I have literally no faith in Smalling, especially when he keeps giving away silly fouls which lead to goals. Evans is a good squad player and I wan't to see how Jones gets on next season. I think we will sell Smalling if he doesn't do it next season.
 
He's better aerially than any defender we have, but he's way too rash and never recaptured the form of may be 11/12 which I thought was his best season.
 
SonnyTheHaloPro said:
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.
Click to expand...

We dont need 2 CBs next season. What we need is a quality one and probably a RB (If VG isn't keen on giving Janko and Varela a try). It would be a shame if Rio and Vidic are replaced by an injury prone player whose not good enough to be in Arsenal first team
 
Surely he's a little pre-occupied to be signing right now?
 
Get In Scholesy said:
I may be in the minority that thinks all three of Smalling, Jones and Evans are better than him or have the potential to be better than him.

This signing seems odd.
Click to expand...

Its been so long since we've seen him play for either club or country, to even assess him anymore. If he's not good enough to get into an average CB pairing at Arsenal - he's most certainly not United quality..

Odd isnt even close man!
 
Red Hand Devil said:
Ball-playin centre-half?

Sure he's never on the friggin pitch - for club & country, to even get a touch of it & yet he's good enough for United?
Click to expand...
Yeah, injuries is my only issue but it happens to be a pretty big one for him. You can't doubt his actual ability with regards to what this signing seems to be based on - being good on the ball.

Get In Scholesy said:
I may be in the minority that thinks all three of Smalling, Jones and Evans are better than him or have the potential to be better than him.

This signing seems odd.
Click to expand...
It all comes down to how highly LvG rates our other defenders. It's probably too early for him to have a long term plan for our players having not seen them as manager but IF he does rate Evans, Smalling and Jones highly then this signing should not be too surprising.

One of our biggest problems in recent years IMO has been the over rotation of our CBs, if LvG trusts in our current 2/3 CBs then a cheap, experienced defender who brings a quality that our other CBs struggle with may not be such a bad thing. It really depends on highly Jones/Smalling/Evans are rated and it's difficult to imagine LvG is fully confident in them.
 
£9m isn't a bad price.

If Evra does go, Vermaelen can also be back up for Shaw at left back.
 
I'd be interested to see if we'd get £10m for Smalling (who plays a shitload) if he was on the market - doubt it, we always get shafted. Yet we're expected to pay that sort of money for a player who warms the bench at Arsenal.

Baffling!

This potential signing, kinda puts in doubt any further big money deals we'd all been hopin for - especially top-class CB's..

I guess its best to just wait & see what happens!
 
Positionally he is really atrocious and prone to so many brainfarts, he's also weak as piss and a bit of a wimp and I think has lost a bit of pace due to his incessant injuries. Probably ok as a backup CB and LB cover but there no way this guy's fitness is reliable enough to be a first choice, never mind the fact he's not good enough anyway. To sum up, meh.
 
For under 10m if we can't land our number one target, it makes sense and I can take it. People will point to injuries and he doesn't play for Arsenal and all that. Factis though, he is an experienced player. He is good on the ball and you would think suits a van Gaal side.

He isn't the best choice but some of the criticism thrown at him purely because they want someone better is really stupid.
 
He's a slightly better version of Silvestre and would be a massively disappointing signing, for me.
 
I think the Vermaelen signing shows that some faith will be put, in Jones, Evans & Smalling, to between the four of them, settle the two CB positions & I'm kind of glad about that.

Jones & Smalling do have potential - Evans & VM are the insurance policy, should they not fulfill their potential during this season (& injury cover of course). It's the perfect season to allow LVG to get hold of these two & mould two truly class CB's - if he can't, no one can. We can spend big next summer if need be, ahead of Champions League re-entry.
 
Still hoping it's bollocks. The guy isn't worth anything close to 10m. I really can't see any benefit in signing him at all.
 
I actually think he would be a decent squad player but it's mainly his injury record that concerns me. When he was fit he did well at Arsenal, Injuries and the Koscielny/Mertersaker partnership have seen him drop off the radar.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
For under 10m if we can't land our number one target, it makes sense and I can take it. People will point to injuries and he doesn't play for Arsenal and all that. Factis though, he is an experienced player. He is good on the ball and you would think suits a van Gaal side.

He isn't the best choice but some of the criticism thrown at him purely because they want someone better is really stupid.
Click to expand...

If there's an issue with our three CBs it is that they get injured too much. Bringing in another injury prone player is kind of...stupid
 
Someone told van Gaal that Vermaelen is a bit naff, right?
 
Don't think van Gaal has the best eye for what fans of the Premier League judge as solid defenders... not surprised he is after crap like Vermaelen who can pass a decent ball out though.

He chose for an ill looking skinny internationally unexperienced kid like Cilessen as our keeper because he supposedly is a footballing keeper. (Not seen much of that but luckily he has turned out solid at the keeping department).
 
devilish said:
If there's an issue with our three CBs it is that they get injured too much. Bringing in another injury prone player is kind of...stupid
Click to expand...
What if we bring in a player who has never had an injury before and he does an ACL in his first week? What if an injury prone player overcomes any injuries he has? We can never predict the future of a players fitness, even if we take a calculated guess based on history.

I agree it's something to look at but when you are looking at prices under 10m for a back up, I don't think it's the make or break part of the deal. RVP was injury prone before he signed (I know it's a different case and price). It just goes to show that it shouldn't be the deciding factor when we clearly need an experienced CB.
 
This bodes better for Evans, Smalling and Jones to secure their future with us. If Vermaelen is over his injury issues, he'll prove a handy enough option to have in the squad and will give the opportunity for our three to get more games than they would have if we buy a CB in the top bracket.

I'm not very pleased if this is true but I can see some logic behind the move IF that is how Van Gaal is thinking.

Vermaelen is certainly not that good enough to warrant an automatic starting spot.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.