Ajax coach Frank de Boer has confirmed that Jan Vertonghen is likely to depart the club in January, with Manchester City and Arsenal rumoured to be the interested parties.
He’s gone so far as to confirm that they are looking into bringing back Cristian Chivu to replace him. Chivu, 31, spent 4 years at Ajax, and like Vertonghen, played at left-back and centre-back, and also slotted into a deeper midfield role when needed. Currently at Inter Milan, the Romanian has been given permission to leave this winter.
Vertonghen is highly-rated and has been heavily linked with the Premiership for the past 2 seasons. Left-footed, good on the ball, and versatile, the Belgian is a manager’s dream, and at 6’4″, would have no trouble elbowing Peter Crouch in the head on the not-so-proverbial cold nights in Stoke.
He has a good understanding with Thomas Vermaelen, having started off at left-back alongside him at Ajax (later moving into the middle when TV5 signed for us), and with Squillaci likely to leave, Gibbs constantly injured, and Song the only reliable holding midfielder, Vertonghen could add valuable depth in all those positions.
Who’s that Jude Law lookalike (but with more hair) standing beside Vertonghen?
Could’ve sworn i’ve seen him before somewhere… *SWOON*
Jokes aside, if Vertonghen’s truly that versatile and comfortable in these positions I reckon he’ll be a great acquisition for Arsenal.
You are right. He does look like Jude Law.
The hateful thing is that Jude Law is a Sp*rs fan…
Really? I didn’t think I could hate that quivery-lipped little anus head more than I already do. Life just be that way I guess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gljdv89A_-s
No man likes Jude Law
He would be a great signing, it would be tragic though if given a choice between just City and Arsenal if he sided with those mercenaries over us, especially given his friendship/understanding with Vermaelen.
I mean how many Belgians are there in the Prem? (I can only think of Felaini and Kompany off the top of my head) Sure there is one on City’s team but you would have to think the Verminator is the cooler guy to hang out with and introduce you to life in England. I hope this isn’t wishful thinking
Reallity is City can pay twice the transfer fee and wages that Arsene will offer (reasonably) without even flinching. If a player doesn’t have a preference, the club who pays more always gets him (ala Chelsea snaking our deal for Mata). We’ve been linked with him for ages but so have United, and City need centre backs more than us or United. The only way he comes to Arsenal is if he really wants to play for us with his mate TV. Would be a great addition, and certainly better than Craphill, but do we really need him? We have… Read more »
Dedryk Boyata is on loan at Bolton from Manchester City, is Steed Malbranque still around? And there is Simon Mignolet currently keeping goal at Sunderland! I think that is all of them, excluding the aforementioned of course!!
Also Dembele & Luk*ku
I don’t want to be a downer here but we have 4 CB’s and 2 LB’s, plus Wenger hates to spend money, there is no way we are getting this guy.
Weal, the mans an excellent defensive addition whatever way you look at it. We’ll get him if the price is right, however if City loose De Jong we haven’t a hope.
There’s a fair number of rumours that Song is the next big contract rebel, it’d be wrong to say we don’t need a player of Vertonghen quality and attributes.
Personally I’d prefer it if Song extended his contract and Coq got the minutes he needs to develop. Wouldn’t ever say no to Vertonghen though.
2 LB’s?
1) Santos
2) Gibbs (injury-prone)
And what about Song? Forgot he’s African? He’s off to the ACN for 6 weeks.
cameroon didn’t qualify for ACN 2012
Thank God.
Did Ghana qualify? (Frimpong)
Djourou is not up to standard.
He was excellent most of last season, hasn’t got the games this season to show that kind of form. He is a little injury prone, but name a better fourth choice centre back at a club anywhere in the world…???
Add Squillaci and the potential of Miquel and Bartley and I think we’re stacked at centre back to be honest.
@Plev
Barca: Puyol, Pique, Mascherano, Busquets, Abidal, Fontas
Real: Carvalho, Pepe, Ramos, Albiol, Varane
United: Jones, Ferdinand, Smalling, Vidic
Djourou isn’t a good player. besides one good run last season (which admittedly was quite good), he’s been sub-average for us. AND he’s extremely injury prone.
ALWAYS mention the age when wiriting articles about quite unkown players who are possible Arsenal targets. Then I can let Google rest 🙂
so then, how old is he? poor google doesn’t seem to get a break!
With citys wages and fee no chance but would be a good signing
heard rumours of pato at arsenal!!!hey im not dreaming…..but what do u think fellow gooners!!i would love to see a 4-4-2 again
rvp pato
gervinho theo
song jack
santos verm mert sagna
SZCZ
subs:kos,chamakh,gibbs,arteta,ramsey,fab,arsha
DREAM ain’t it!!!!A champions league team……just see how one extra striker makes a huge difference!!!we’ll be a killer in final third
I have been following Dutch football quite closely over the last few years and I am very unexcited about this (unlike when the Verminator signed).
I think the player is very static, lacks close ball control, and he seems to think he has a great range of passing, whilst in reality this isnt the case.
On the plus side though he is good in the air and relatively quick.
I think there is a tendency for players to be rated highly very quickly, and I personally think this is one of those cases
I’m also fairly lukewarm on the guy. I think it was Man U comfortably beat Ajax at home last season and he looked out of his depth, poor positioning and ball-watching, and worst of all, weirdly unfocused for such a big game. You could put it down to a bad day at the office, but if you’re been watching him week in week out and have the same opinion…
Overrated makes too many mistakes, lightweight. Cryuff was raving about him a few years ago that’s where all the hype comes from
Mertesacker made two big mistakes against Chelsea. Everyone makes mistakes.
We’re one fullback injury from all hands on deck again–someone who could cover at LB would be nice.
Then again, yeah, the math doesn’t add up. Kos, Mert, TV with Djourou and Miquel (who’s pushing for a spot) as cover. That’s a lot invested into one position for a Wenger-run team. Let’s not forget Kyle Bartley either.
Indeed, and I did forget about Kyle. To be honnest if Kyle develops well, I reckon we’d rather spend the money on someone like M’Villa.
i have watched ajax quite abit live and vertonghen is a good player. well worth 10million on todays market. made me laugh about the guy aboves comment that he thinks he is a world class passer of the ball, that is so true but for a big guy he is decent on the ball. brilliant in the air and is a really good leader. does not chuck his toys out of the pram when he gets asked to play in different positions, just gets on with it. would be a decent addition to the squad as song and frimpong are… Read more »
wouldn’t mind this happening, but I just can’t really see it. Undoubtedly this would be a good acquisition but I think the need for a striker to fill in for Robin far outweighs the need for a left back/centre back. I would like to see a bit more of Park, and would love to see Chamakh with a smile on his face again. At the moment it’s hard to know if we can rely on them, but maybe they’ll surprise us. I personally miss Eduardo rather a lot. He has still looked decent at Shaktar. He was a natural talent… Read more »
Poor Chamakh, I really do wish he can score a hattrick against Man City soon.
And Eduardo… it’s sad how a great player gets ruined by one tackle.
I still get incredibly upset every time I think about what that sh*t kicker did to Eduardo, I can hardly bear to think about it. To think about what might have been, he could have been such a legend. What a buy by Wenger.
I truly hate what happened to Diaby and Rambo as well but Eduardo hurts the worst.
Eduardo, my Eduardo!
TV5 doesn’t look such a hard man in this picture, more like a boy band member!
How do you see pictures on iPhone or can u?
LOL I bought him on FIFA12 – he scored a quite remarkable header and therefore I declare he is awesome.
In the real world I think he’d be a good addition as he is a versatile player. We all know how our formation sometimes forces players to be out of postion. Plus we all know we need cover on the defensive side of our midfield. And at 24 he’s at a good age. Not too young, not too old.
I also think we should pinch Fernando Llorente (26) from Bilbao and offload Chamakh.
Now that I think of it, Llorente would be a good replacement for Chamakh. Might be pricey though (not sure). When does his contract run out?
shit dude, he is even more assassin-like Verminator !
Belgium my Club Arsene !
perhaps this is a smokescreen, and whilst Chel$cum and Citeh run around outbidding each other for this chap, Arsene is sealing the deal on some fantastic new striker we’ve never heard of but turns out to be fucking ace
bit like that dutch firebrand he signed a while back, got sent off a few times and all that. whatever happened to him?
Get him Arsene, and make a cheeky bid for Hazard.
Why are we talking about transfers? It’s only the middle of November for goodness sake.
Which makes the transfer window less than 7 weeks away. You don’t want Arsene Wenger to be accused of making last minute panic buys do you? This is the stage he’ll be thinking about potential recruits,
if vertonghan chose city over us it would be a disappointing day. let’s be honest, however, with the history of frivolity in manchester, not unexpected. we can believe, in general, the players who we look up to, are somehow connected with us and our hopes for the the arsenal. But like us, players choose the best option for themselves, and we are allowed to oppose their decision. I cannot comment with conscious until this V rumour has been resolved, but I trust the sincerity of arseblog and hope arsenal is still desirable despite the $ of self- centered clubs.
I cant see us buying him without Djorouh been released This has to be mancity interested in a player we scouted.
Id love to see frimpong loaned out like wiltshire to Bolton and learn his trade come back a man instead of just raw talent, get rid of some of those mistakes while playing with bolton
It would give coquelin a better chance of developing behind song and if song then wants to go after that…….. he knows were the door is NO player is bigger than the clubs this season proves that
Oh you head in the sky dreamers, dream on.
The God of Football Arsene will reach into the magic bag and pull out a striker; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, BAM! for $99.99 cents (74Euros)
Then to top it off with cherries. Wenger will buy the two Moldovan centrebacks for 189 Euros for the pair. They are that good.
You Gooners owe me a pint.
Do you actually know what a pint is?
It’s well known that Verm and Vert were like twin brothers at Ajax, so let’s hope that tips things in our favour.