Barcelona have confirmed the capture of Thomas Vermaelen on a five-year deal for a fee thought to be £15 million.
The Belgian defender, 28, moved to Arsenal in 2009 from Ajax and was appointed captain by Arsene Wenger in the aftermath of Robin van Persie’s departure in 2012. In five seasons at the Emirates he made 150 appearances, scoring 15 goals.
Injuries pockmarked Vermaelen’s stay in London with the player sustaining a serious Achilles problem in 2010 that restricted him to just five appearances in his second season at the club.
While he returned to partner Laurent Koscielny at the start of 2011 and featured regularly with Per Mertesacker in 2012 neither partnership was deemed particularly stable and in the end he found himself regularly on the bench as backup to the ‘Axis of Awesome.’
A quiet, determined, steely-eyed character he remained professional to the last, rarely complaining about his lack of playing of time. He leaves as the first club captain to lift silverware since Patrick Vieira although having not played against Hull City you suspect even that experience was a little bittersweet.
Arseblog News wishes him all the best at the Camp Nou. We’re really very pleased he didn’t end up at Old Trafford.
BFG for captain
Good Luck TV5!
All the best at Barca, you’ll need it to keep the reputation of dignity you have around those scummy bastards
Great business on our end to get such a good fee for him, but also to refuse to sell him to another PL team. Really hope he does well with Barca, a top pro.
To repeat your point, absolutely delighted he’s not at Old Trafford. Sincerely hope he enjoys re-teaming up with Song..
Goodbye, TV5. Wish he got to be on the pitch in the FA Cup final a la Per in the World Cup final.
Will this finally free up Mascherano to move up to DM?
Yeah, would have been nice for him to have played a bigger part. Has been unlucky with the excellent form of the current cb partnership.
Regarding Mascherano however, I couldn’t really give a shit 🙂
Yeah, and that frees up Alexis no wait Alex Song to move to Man Utd. Imagine a midfield of Cleverley, Jones and Song. The party goes on!
Song and RVP are cunts, but I just cannot close my eyes towards the truth that both of them were in top top form during their last season at Arsenal
Top professional, will always remember the Verminator’s early Arsenal Career performances!
I think the defining moment for me was the penalty miss at Bradford. I was so confident in him then but haven’t seen his best since then.
Good luck TV5!
Hopefully his departure means that a deal for a new centre back is close to being concluded or announced!
Shown more dignity and class than recent captains. Respect.
I will miss Veriminator! but I am happy he didn’t go to those United Vermins
best of luck to him I’d say, hes been a pretty dignified and respectful captain for Arsenal.
Hope it works out for you tv5
A role model for younger players in putting the team first. Best of luck, Verminator!
Farewell. Just not against us. Anyone got any idea who we might go for ? Its been weirdly quiet
I have to be honest I have no Idea. I thought he might go for an experienced CB in his late twenties early thirties but the fact we tried to get Smalling suggests the boss might be thinking more longer term. I just hope we resolve this quickly not leave ourselves exposed in opening few weeks.
Nastasic seems like a reasonable rumour. Fairly young, reasonable amount of high level experience, highly rated and seemingly unwanted at City. I don’t know much about him though. He would need to have some speed to be an effective partner for Mertesacker, and he’d also need to be willing to take a pay cut.
Couldn’t have asked for more, realistically speaking. Glad he’s not off to United, very pleased that we got £15m for him, as well!
He was an absolute consummate professional in what had to be an extremely difficult situation, being a captain sat on the bench. Glad he lifted a cup with us. Thanks for your service and best of luck (until the next time we see you in the CL, of course)
Respect.
Sad to see him go. Really liked Vermaelen and don’t think he is that bad that some peopel may seem to think. Before he got that Injury that kept him out from almost a whole season he looked really good. Hope he can get his carrier back on track.
15m is great business. Happy he’s not going to manu. Goodluck Verminator!!
I know BFG will likely be the new skipper but does anyone want to see Wenger make a younger guy who’s gonna be here the long time captain? A la Ramsey!
I think the best move would be to make BFG captain with Arteta remaining as the vice captain. Perhaps if Arteta gets injured or is rested Ramsey can deputise and maybe captain the carling cup team to get a feel for the role while not feeling burdened. At the moment we need Welsh Jesus concentrating on his football maintaining his form from last year is more important and it would see silly to maybe risk that by giving him the armband. Definitely captain material for the future though.
Now that deal has been completed we can look forward to the announcement of his replacement.
Compare this guys remarkable attitude to that of (sorry for mentioning him) RVP*.
Good luck captain. Stay classy.
*cunt
Pleased he didn’t go to united. Shame though he would have been a great 3rd choice cb. Can understand it from his point of view good luck to him. Would just like to ask him to ‘accidentally’ kick Suarez’s teeth out in training and this deal would be perfect for everyone concerned.
Goodbye Tommy.
I’ll never forget that goal against Newcastle.
And that clearance against Celtic.
Thank you very much TV5. He and his agent stayed calm and off the so called ”gossip media”. TV5 respected our emotions and stayed professional until this moment. He loved our team and fought for it perfectly.We wish him all the best for his career in Barcelona.i will miss him a lot and when he comes to the Emirates in the future ,i am sure the fans will give him all the respect and love he deserves.i am extremely happy that he didn’t join MU.
Again,good job AW!!!!!
One of the best cb’s in the world when fully fit and when given confidence. Good luck Thomas! I think he’s a better player than that matthieu guy they signed earlier so he should get a spot in the first 11 if he manages to stay in shape.
Im gonna miss him in the red and white. 🙁
Good luck verminator… Waiting for wenger to throw another surprise to us (Hummmmmellllllsssss)
I never did wear my Verminator T-shirt blogs
Sad that his career with us petered out but really pleased for him. £15m for a player with one year left who was in the doldrums is great business. Hope we get a good CB soon. Nobody wants to go to Manure anymore!
Good business for Arsenal and a good move for Verm. Sometimes players need a move to reinvigorate themselves and this is the case here.
With that said we need to get a replacement in ASAP, with no BFG at the start of the season we are desperately thin at CB and you could argue we need two defenders
if we can add Carvalho as well at DM we’ll be good to go.
Thought he had the potential to be such an amazing player yet sadly injuries and a change of style in defence and a misfortune dip in form led to him not playing as much as I would have loved. Remember all the goals he used to bang in for us and he was my personal first pick to become captain when they elected Van Cuntalot and was glad when they gave him the captains armband! I am so glad he is not going to Manure though! And wish him nothing but the utmost luck unless he plays against us! Think… Read more »
Sorry sajit meant to press thumbs up!
Hang your head in shame, 10 Hail Marys and 5 Our Fathers please!
Good luck at Barca
Thanks for the memories TV5
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuart_photoafc/6803317392/
Good luck big fella.
£15M !! Nice piece of business that.
Shame he couldn’t provide competition for a starting spot in his latter seasons here, but an exemplary captain and professional throughout. Good luck TV5.
Always will love that winner at St. James, too good for the role he had at the club, but just not consistent enough of a player to overtake either Kos or Mert. 15 mil is a little high, but so are the transfer chiefs at Barca apparently.
I may be mistaken, but was the winner not against Newcastle in The Emirates?
Yes it was, my mistake
Seems ironic the Verminator should go to the biggest cheating pile of rats in world football but I’m still glad he went there over United. He can still be a great centre back and I’m sad to see him leave. It was for the best though. I just hope we can bring in someone else who is as good or better. There aren’t that many quality centre backs around these days. Let’s see what Arsene has up his sleeve. Good luck TV5. Hope we rip you a new one in the Champions League though.
I’ll never forget his goal against Newcastle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk7g9YPxEr8
How important was that goal?
Best of luck to him. A true professional.
That match was absolutely insane. The things I shouted at Tim Krul would have made a sailor blush.
That was my first ever match at The Emirates – what a game! 🙂
All credit to him for his profeesional conduct. He never got a look in after the calamitous defending that gifted Spurs two goals at WHL in March 2013. It seems that game was the final straw for Wenger as for the next game in Munich he was benched for Kos and has pretty much been there ever since. I wish him all the best at Barca.
Good Luck Vermaelen. Really sad to see him go but his time out injured for over an year robbed us of a genuinely talented centreback. I have a tinge of regret of what might have been had he not been out so long. He just wasnt the same after that. I ll always remember how awesome he was in his first season with us.
Been hearing rumours that arsene is in for John terry………
Right lets see how many thumbs down that gets!!!
At 6-6 we are as close to the number of the devil as we can get.
I hope Tommy gets the playing time at Barca. The guy deserves it.
Now that the number 5 shirt is vacant. How about giving it to Per, as well as the captaincy and giving Welsh Jesus the number 4 shirt?
Model captain. Thanks for your service, Tommy V.
Encouraging stuff from Le Boss. Sound fee, sold to a continental team and Arsenal continue to show a real sign of control and effectiveness in this transfer window. Most importantly, we continue to execute some proper deals with La Liga giants, which will only help grease the wheels for the future.
How many players has Wenger sold to Barcelona? Petit, Overmars, Henry, Hleb, Song, Cesc, Vermaelen… Any more? And what must the total money in add up to? £120 million?
Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Silvinho.
The transfer fees from our sales to Cuntelona (and sell-ons) has paid for more than a third of Emirates Stadium.
Call me immature but the best part of this is hoping that the stories that Wenger told Van Gaal to go stuff it are true. Makes me really happy to know because I cant stand Van Gaal. Such a pompous windbag.
Sad to see Vermalean go and wish him well.
Sorry, I meant tumb up 🙁
I’ll never forget the goal vs Newcastle. Good Luck Verminator!
Hoped he could of stayed but that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Great move for all concerned. Not playing in the prem and good fee means great business for us and he has gone to a team that suits his style of play better. OT like to have more blood and thunder defenders rather than the cultured left foot of the Verm. Now he only has to stay fit.
It’s ok! He was a liability in our system. Specialy his pass to Rvp against MU. We are lucky to offload him.
Deserves to play. Though will probably be a bench warmer there too. Best of luck Thomas.
Could not agree more. I hope he is going there to play football and not play second fiddle; if so we have sold one of the best back up defenders in Europe.
Chuffed he didn’t go up north and I think he will fit in well at Barca. A goal against Liverpool in the CL wouldn’t do any harm as well Sir Thomas. If that is the case you truly would be the Verminator.
Thank you, Thomas, for your service as a player and captain. Your attitude and behavior were always first class, and you were an excellent defender too. Good luck with the next stage of your career in Barcelona. Your last minute goal against Newcastle and your great tackle against Celtic in 2009 were my two favorite moments. COYG.