Reports in some newspapers last night suggested that Arsenal have their beady January transfer window eye on young Ipswich defender Tyrone Mings.
The 6’3 left-footer has caught the eye of the Arsenal scouting team, perhaps guided by recent recruit Brian McDermott, who has been hired until May. His knowledge of the lower leagues was one of the reasons he was brought on board, and it appears Mings has been recommended to the Arsenal manager and the player has been watched repeatedly over the last few months.
At his press conference today, Wenger said of him, “He is one of the young players we follow. We are following a few young players but we are not close to signing anybody.”
The club’s need for a central defender is obvious, and the 21 year old has been regular in an Ipswich side currently sitting second in the Championship. Although he’s played primarily at left-back, he has the stature and physique to play centrally.
There’s just under a month until the window opens and with the Gunners having to balance their defensive options carefully, early recruitment would be ideal.
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Quote via @JamesOlley
It’s unlike Wenger to admit watching a player under contract at another club like this. Makes me wonder if the wheels are well in motion on this one, despite Arsene’s denial?
Plus I want a player we can refer to as Mings the Merciless.
Mings the Merciless, I love it! He must pack a mings punch as well.
@Excile – extremely exceedingly well played sir. Just kick-started my Friday
And every time he makes a mistake, we’ll know exactly what to say…
http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/211126-shit-tyrone-get-it-together
Die weak earthlings!
The last time we bought a young unknown player from a lower (in that case French) league, it worked well.
Will be quite delighted if he makes a rapid step up like Chambers did in the short term and a replacement for Kos the Boss in the longer term.
I’m not sure who you’re talking about. But if you’re talking about Kos, we signed him from Lorient in Ligue 1. Although Grimandi did admit that we were watching him from his time at Tours, Arsenal were reluctant to pull the trigger because he was untested in a top league. That summer he joined Lorient for I think 2m and we ended up buying him 12 months later for 10m.
Not criticizing Arsenal or anything but making it clear that the club is very careful when buying first team players (especially defenders) from the lower leagues (in England or elsewhere).
Lorient were in the second tier of football we bought koscielny
He can’t be talking about Kos because we’ve had Sanogo from the French lower leagues since and he’s been an unmitigated disaster
Sanogo was the last player we bought from the French Lower league and he’s been a complete disaster, so god know’s who’s he talking about
A 20 year old has been a “complete disaster”. Unbelievable.
Sanogo is 22 years old next month. The problem is people like you still thinking he’s a baby and making excuses for why he is crap.
Yes, the guy has 1 goal in 20 games and can’t even run without falling over. That’s when he isn’t injured which he has been for more than 50% of his Arsenal career.
He should not be anywhere near the Arsenal first team, it’s embarrassing that he is and shows just how far the club have fallen!
Hi minutes per goal looks way better than that one goal in 20 games stat, and you’d be a numpty to completely discount his goals in the Emirates Cup and for the France U20s. There’s still a decent chance that he comes good.
Sanogo is comfortable the worst young player Wenger has ever given this much game time too in his Arsenal career. He has not given considerably more talented players this kind of opportunity even when they’ve made much better contributions, Carlos Vela comes to mind. It’s nothing personal against him, I’m sure he’s a lovely guy, but he’s just not very good. He is, and this is the best and most accurate description of him I have read, a work horse in progress! And no, only a numpty WOULD include or give any weight to goals scored in a friendly or… Read more »
I completely agree with John on this one. If Sanago was at another club, we would be laughing our heads off at how shite he is.
Oh boy imagine these twats 20 years ago condemn Thierry Henry for being too mediocre for the great Arsenal.
agreed – in wenger media talk – when he is admitting to following a player the bid has already been lodged….
I love to see us building a young team with a group of british players and this lad has potential seen him play a few times.
But will a 21 year old championship left back be enough cover for kos and mert. I’d like to see an experienced CB come in like Ashley Williams or Vlar someone with some prem experience that can walk into the squad.
Not easy to get players of that quality to come here and play second fiddle to Mertcielny
No, put Per on the bench…
Good call, Stevie Wonder.
The reason why merteschielny works well is because they are two completely different players. Take away per and you upset that balance completely. We had an incredible run last season when that partnership was immense and justifiably gained a lot of plaudits. Dropping per is a terrible shout on a purely footballing basis, let alone what he brings to the squad and club off the pitch.
True, but I think his lack of athleticism and age means he’s going to need to be rested more often and so will need a good replacement to bed in sooner rather than later (I suspect Chambers is being groomed for first choice with a guy like Hayden acting as further backup).
Yeah, Kos looks like a shadow of himself without Per just like Per looks bad without Kos. It’s not that Kos carries Per. They are a genuine partnership in that sense.
If you think about it, it might not be such a bad idea bringing someone in from the championship, after all koscielny did play in ligue 2 in France
We do need a left-sided CB, which I presume he would be if he played CB, and being able to cover LB seems like an important thing.
Also, could free Chambers to play in midfield if we get a more experienced CB as well, so Mings could tick a lot of boxes AND have an awesome name. Win/win.
Looks like Serge Gnabry’s equally muscular cousin
Speaking of, where is Serge?!
Figuring out his way from the hospital.
In two years we will be able to field an English XI.
Young, English, versatile and tall. He’s not going to solve all our problems but I think there’s a lot of upside to this potential deal. Seems like a good character, too.
Trying to do another Chambers hete. Good luck!
“He is one of the young players we follow. We are following a few young players but we are not close to signing anybody.”
if I could get a nickel every time I read that from arsené….
“We are following a few young players but we are not close to signing anybody.”
This is another classic automatic Arsene answer. Of course he is right for a change, we wouldn’t be close seeing as it’s the 5th December!
he’s said it before xD What is funny is that we will probably get that CB at the last day of the window and not as quickly as possible as we would have needed a new CB.
Verma replacement
I could be wrong but I don’t think he is a Verm replacement.
I think he’s more of a long terms partner to Chambers and Hayden.
We Know of CCs versatility, and Mings as CB & LB. Not sure if Hayden can play as FB but he regularly plays as DM and CB.
I think it’s about having 3+ defensive guys for the next team evolution.
Imagine the fool who reffed the Chelsea fiasco in March has to contend with both Gibbs/Ox and Gnabry/Mings combos on the same pitch. He’d be like “why the hell are they playing with 9 players.. what?! Gnabry foul?! BOOKING FOR MINGS!”
Mariner actually refereed our last game against southampton
and what an amazingly shit job he did there.
And the sad thing is he’s only average in terms of the overall ref pool.
The EPL’s current ref pool is probably the worst in recent memory and certainly the worst of any of the big european leagues. It’s shameful.
Can’t be much worse than the UCL though.
The problem comparing PL and CL refs is that the PL refs ignore quite a few fouls to let the game ‘flow’ whereas the CL refs play much closer to the laws of the game. This does make the PL games comparatively ‘non-stop’ but holds us back in the CL and Internationals as our players have to learn a new game. Then because we’re used to a certain style of ref’ing the CL refs look poor. I’m not saying they’re better and they certainly fuck up as often as the PL refs but they work to different standards.
And he wasn’t much better than he was in the Chel$ki match.
I’d like an experienced professional who can come in and immediately improve our backline, with our resources I don’t think that’s too much to ask!
Kos was equally unknown when Wenger pulled him out of a hat. Could be a similar story
Kos also took years to develop into the player he is now, and it wasn’t until Mert joined that he cemented his place as a first choice CB.
Given how immense he is for us now I think people forget that for a long time the jury was very much out on him.
Which wouldn’t be a disaster with this kid. He’s still so young he could take 2-3 years to break into the first team and it wouldn’t be a tragedy for him.
I am not to sure how much better he is than Isaac Hayden who is a CB and is only a year older. this young man is tipped to be the next Steve Bould or MR Arsenal himself TA
Tipped by you, maybe. Arsenal have had enough “the next Jeramie Aliadiere”s to know that these “next” labels mean absolutely nothing.
From my perspective, having CBs who can play in midfield or vice-versa is something that we’ve struggled to find but something that can be invaluable to us, with so many players that are forward thinking and with the risk of bying too many shortarses. So, there is plenty of space for a few young defenders to come in to the team, especially considering the oldest guys in our team are usually CBs/DMs.
On the other hand, Chambers is a bit of a freak and I doubt most people would have his composure and maturity at this level.
Looks like he can also double up on the medical team as a proctologist.
A Lannister? Yeah!
Never seen the guy play but, sign him. I’d take a one armed partially sighted pirate if he was 6 ft 3 and had played a couple games at centre half.
Heh, “not close to signing”.. Wenger is never close to signing anybody until he announces that he just did, so that particular part of the comment doesn’t mean a thing.
Personally, I’ve never heard of the guy, so I have no idea if he’s good or not. However, Chambers seems to have worked out alright, so why not?
He’s handsome! I’ll take him.
big, strong, english, left footed. what an addition this handsome young man would be. Mings and Chambers as CBs in a few years? Who would want to play against that?!
I follow Ipswich as a second team and can say that Mings has been very impressive this season. His biggest strength is his crossing and attacking play down the left flank while he’s been part of a defensively solid Ipswich team this season. That said, I’ve never seen or heard of him playing at CB for Ipswich, but he may well be another Chambers who played CB at a youth level. Potentially though Mings is viewed more as the replacement for Monreal when he gets a bit too old for LB/moves his game to CB.
It’s funny reading post after post, everyone dreaming of this guy being the solution to our CB problems, replacement for such and such, future England CB partner to Chambers….
Then we get a guy who Actually watches Ipswich and we see some facts…just wow
desailly lookalike
Please Arsene, stop buying overrated British players. A squad built on British ‘talent’ is destined to never win anything.
If anyone can polish a rough stone into a diamond it is Wenger. Remember Song’s 1st appearance for the club? Yep that’s the same Song who was given to our new feeder club Barcelona for a fee upwards of £10 million… Sanogo, Campbell can still come good just wait everything in time!@@! COYG
He’s going to get signed by City or Chelski now. Or, any day soon ‘Arry is gonna get a bid in for him. Happens all the time.
I haven’t seen much of him but am sure if we get him he’ll be an interesting prospect. I am suspicious however that Arsene, who has always been outspoken of the English market and the inflated prices of English players, is now primarily looking to English players. That would make Welbeck, Chambers and Mings. With the British players and Alexis the only undroppable players in Arsene’s view, our staring line up would have up to 75% British players in a few years. He has said Bayern won the Champions League with mainly German, Barca with Spaniards and his intention is… Read more »
Blogs, get out the poo-ometer! I’ve been eagerly awaiting its return!
What’s wrong with 6ft 3in Maori warrior Winston Reid? Aged 26, premier league hard, NZ captain and Hammer of the year in 2013.
No Kiwi has played for the Arsenal … break the curse
Several things Wenger is definitely looking for a defender. This has always been priority over a DM That he is tracking Mings and making it known may mean he is softening the market for other potential defenders by having a card to hedge on pricing It does not necessarily mean Mings is it but there is every possibility that Mings could be a fall back if a more experienced target in unattainable He ticks several important boxes 1) plenty if upside. Although I prefer greater experience at 23-25, 21 means Wenger may be able to better manage player expectations like… Read more »