Thomas Vermaelen

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Sandikan said:
yep, a distinct lack of pace and width.

we scratch our heads and think on then.

ps Young's still here as he's on monumental wages and no one would take him.
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So we send him on loan and pay some of his wages till his contract expires. Not give him games
 
The only explanation to this signing would be that LVG thinks it is essential to get a Left footed ball playing defender for whatever system he wants to play.

And Vermaelen is the best available ?
 
I keep hoping Woody is gonna pop out with a clown nose on flipping the bird and yelling "Gotcha muppets!" as this makes zero sense.
 
Ekeke said:
And explain why Ashley Young is still here and what we're doing with Valencia, Nani, Kagawa, Januzaj...
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No team in the world would take Ashley Young from us unless he was willing to go down a whole lot in salalry. That's why he's still here. Nani, who knows, could probably be sold or used in a deal for Vidal as Juventus is looking for wingers. Valencia would do good as a wingback in a 5-3-2 so him signing a new contract isn't all too bad if we're doing that.

As for Kagawa and Januzaj, both can cover for Mata. But even then, you still need some options to play with other formations.
 
The thinking has to be that Jones and Smalling are going to step up and join Evans as a first-choice centre-back. If they are ever to be good enough then it's (almost) now or never for them at United.

It probably means we're signing another midfielder and we'll never see Jones in midfield again.
 
He could be a back up for Shaw and for the centre backs

Evra will leave, De Vrij as another competitor for a regular starter place with Evans/Jones/Smalling

Now it's all more clear.
 
Phil said:
I really don't see the point in bringing in someone at the same level as our current CBs.
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I don't know. It might be that going into the season with only three defenders (all of them a bit injury prone) is a bit suicidal. And that the likes of Hummels aren't available. Makes sense now?

gulli_G said:
i think we're playing 5-3-2
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I think that chances for that are near 0.
 
::sonny:: said:
He could be a back up for Shaw and for the centre backs

Evra will leave, De Vrij as another competitor for a regular starter place with Evans/Jones/Smalling

Now it's all more clear.
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Your logic is awesome but my heart can't believe we even consider selling our only experienced legend in defense on a world class level... not after what I saw on this World Cup.

Won't be easy to cope with loss of Pat.
 
I don't understand why people are so against this signing. When he first came to arsenal he was as brilliant as far as I can remember, he's had a few injures and made a few mistakes but its hardly as if he's Titus Bramble or something. He's capable of being one of the best defenders in the country if he can get his confidence and form back and maybe moving club and working under Val Gaal might do that and for £10 million or whatever im sure its worth it
 
Well he wasn't brilliant. Arsenal's defence was vulnerable and he made a couple of mistakes.

Why there was a lot of hype about him, is that he scored a lot of goals, some fantastic longrange ones and a few headers too with a big leap. He was quite good and he was young and new so people got excited about his potential.

Fast forward a couple of years and he's not as fit, not as good and not as important to any of the teams he plays for. He's gone from Captain of Arsenal and a backup captain for his country, to someone who both teams can do well without. Arsenal will only miss him if they dont sign a half decent backup for their first choice players.

People make fun of David Luiz playing at CB, but Vermaelen is just as vulnerable without as much ability on the ball.
 
Vermaelen has had his share of mistakes for Arsenal, but it was Koscielny who was the real liability when the two played together.

I can see why Van Gaal might want him on the cheap, he's quick for a centreback, schooled in the Netherlands, comfortable on the ball and very aggressive off it. But he's definitely not a defender to trust to steady our ship given his injuries.
 
Ekeke said:
Well he wasn't brilliant. Arsenal's defence was vulnerable and he made a couple of mistakes.

Why there was a lot of hype about him, is that he scored a lot of goals, some fantastic longrange ones and a few headers too with a big leap. He was quite good and he was young and new so people got excited about his potential.

Fast forward a couple of years and he's not as fit, not as good and not as important to any of the teams he plays for. He's gone from Captain of Arsenal and a backup captain for his country, to someone who both teams can do well without. Arsenal will only miss him if they dont sign a half decent backup for their first choice players.

People make fun of David Luiz playing at CB, but Vermaelen is just as vulnerable without as much ability on the ball.
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in fairness I've never watched alot of him, he's one of them players I just cam't remember much of at all for some reason, yeah the goals are probably the reason he was so highly rated, but what I seem to remember is a good centre back(at least evans/jones/smalling level) who did have a mistake in him now an again
 
van Persie said:
No team in the world would take Ashley Young from us unless he was willing to go down a whole lot in salalry. That's why he's still here. Nani, who knows, could probably be sold or used in a deal for Vidal as Juventus is looking for wingers. Valencia would do good as a wingback in a 5-3-2 so him signing a new contract isn't all too bad if we're doing that.

As for Kagawa and Januzaj, both can cover for Mata. But even then, you still need some options to play with other formations.
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Gill was daft giving Young £120k/week. Too much for too little ability. But you're right, nobody is gunna take him, unless we pay the remainer of the wage, which would still be kinda okay, if we can get £8-12m for him, however unlikely.

As for Kagawa, he shouldnt be cover for anyone, he should start atleast 30games a season. But so should Mata, Januzaj, Herrera, .. It'll be abit of a headache for van Gaal me thinks.
 
hobbers said:
Vermaelen has had his share of mistakes for Arsenal, but it was Koscielny who was the real liability when the two played together.

I can see why Van Gaal might want him on the cheap, he's quick for a centreback, schooled in the Netherlands, comfortable on the ball and very aggressive off it. But he's definitely not a defender to trust to steady our ship given his injuries.
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Vermaelen was indeed the better of the two back then, but its obviously Koscielny who is the better of the two now. If we want an Arsenal CB he's obviously the one to go for.
 
I think there will be a bit more clarification over this in the next few days.
 
Gazza said:
The thinking has to be that Jones and Smalling are going to step up and join Evans as a first-choice centre-back. If they are ever to be good enough then it's (almost) now or never for them at United.

It probably means we're signing another midfielder and we'll never see Jones in midfield again.
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He was a lot more impressive in midfield this season compared to in the CB position
 
Suus said:
Gill was daft giving Young £120k/week. Too much for too little ability. But you're right, nobody is gunna take him, unless we pay the remainer of the wage, which would still be kinda okay, if we can get £8-12m for him, however unlikely.

As for Kagawa, he shouldnt be cover for anyone, he should start atleast 30games a season. But so should Mata, Januzaj, Herrera, .. It'll be abit of a headache for van Gaal me thinks.
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Kagawa hasn't earned 30 games a season judging by his record for us.
 
100 said:
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.


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.
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Wait so i'm a bit confused. If LVG does rate our current three centrebacks, then the Vermaelan signing should not be too surprising?

I agree, there has been an over rotation of our CBs in recent years which is mainly due to injury problems, hopefully they can steer clear of it this year, especially Jones who seems to go off injured every game.

Kag said:
No, you're right. But isn't that why the signing makes sense? He may start as first choice, but if not he'd make good cover for an eventual partnership between our younger lads, who will most certainly prove to be good enough if given a run of games, which they've never had.

The only sticking point here is fitness. But I believe in Smalling and Jones, and I hope Van Gaal does too.
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So what you're saying is that we are bringing in Vermaelen for depth? I'm not saying that isn't true as it is a logical argument, but if it is, then wow.. we are aiming really low with that one.
 
I don't back anything, he's clearly regressed at Arsenal through injury and other factors. Why take the risk. He's not getting any younger either.
 
He has all the tools to be a really good asset. He has definitely regressed at Arsenal, but in fairness the people at the club have much more first hand knowledge of the man and the situation, so they are much better placed to make this decision than us. It's not clear cut either way from here, but from talking to him and the people around him you'd have a better idea.
 
moses said:
He has all the tools to be a really good asset. He has definitely regressed at Arsenal, but in fairness the people at the club have much more first hand knowledge of the man and the situation, so they are much better placed to make this decision than us. It's not clear cut either way from here, but from talking to him and the people around him you'd have a better idea.
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Indeed. The only question is really whether he's regressed or whether his first six months at the club were just greater than anything else he's ever shown.

The drama in this thread is ridiculous. 80% of the time last year, Vermaelen did a good job when called upon.
 
The press are linking Arsenal with Manolas as a replacement for Vermaelen. We'd be better off going for him
 
Yeah, I wouldn't be happy if the roles were reversed (mind you it's hardly payback for Silvestre).
 
As long as he's not coming in to be first choice like Ferdinand and Vidic were, this is a good signing. We do need an extra body in defence and the fact that he can play in other positions, makes it all the better.

I don't see why some are anxious about going with any of the 3 CB's we currently have. Evans and Smalling have both shown themselves good enough and don't discount the effect of actually having a competent midfield will have on our defense. Before we go breaking the bank on someone like Hummels, we should at least give Evans, Smalling and Jones a chance to fail before deciding they aren't good enough to be starters.

Of course there's concern about their injury history and rightfully so. But if you look at players who've been habitually injured, the vast majority have been players who've been typically rotated in and out if the squad. Players like Evra, Rooney, Carrick and Valencia were the ones who played nearly every week and they were amongst the few who didn't pick up little knocks that kept them out for a few weeks.
 
alastair said:
Comparing the guy to Silvestre is also ludicrous.
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agreed...fitness issues apart, vermaelen is class imo. But he s been out if the limelight for some time so the (over)reaction of a some ppl over here is understandable.
 
Get In Scholesy said:
Wait so i'm a bit confused. If LVG does rate our current three centrebacks, then the Vermaelan signing should not be too surprising?
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The general opinion seems to be that we need a world class center back, which is entirely understandable. If LvG rates the other three highly then a back-up CB like Vermaelan might be a better option. It would be great to have four high quality CBs but it's difficult to keep top players happy without rotating, which has caused us problems in the past. A drop in quality is to be expected from back-up CBs.

But as people have mentioned - it's strange to move from warming one bench to another so it'll be surprising if he has been signed for this role.

I think it might be the fact that we'll be taken to the cleaners by most clubs right now when trying to sign someone. The likes of Miranda, Mangala and Benatia have all been touted for 30-40M. This might be a bit like the Buttner signing.
 
If we replace Vermaelen with a CB who can actually challenge our top two I'll be happy.

My annoyance with this isn't losing the player, it's the added effort put on our transfer window.
 
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