Arsenal target Milan star to solve defensive crisis
Arsene Wenger has suffered from one of his usual mid-season defensive crises which has been compounded by the injury to Thomas Vermaelen in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over QPR on Saturday. He has nowmade it clear that he is looking for a left-back on loan, and today the Mail reports that his number One target is AC Milan’s Taye Taiwo.
The Nigerian has made it clear that he is not happy at being just a fringe player at the Italian Champions and really wants to just play regularly every week. He said recently: “I am suffering every day because I don’t get to play football. I joined this club in order to play, but I have made only six appearances so far,”
“I don’t understand how things work in Italy. Sometimes I even have to watch from the stands, but I really need to play in order to show what I can do.”
“It looks like [Milan coach Massimi] Allegri doesn’t have faith in me. It’s not like me to just sit back and do nothing in a situation like this.”
Arsenal were linked with Taiwo during the summer, but he chose a free transfer to Milan instead. This would be the perfect time for Wenger to give him a lifeline by taking him to the Emirates, and he would surely be much more match-fit than Wayne Bridge who hasn’t played once all season…..
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With all respect to Taiwo but why should we always be satisfied with leftovers that turn out even more expensive to get rid of
All fans in this site has repeatedly said: The answer to our problem is VERTONGEN
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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@mehrzad
Thats nonsense, even if taiwo isn’t first choice i can assure you he is real quality, he’d be my second choice to bring in after baines
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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Its a loan deal anyway. you dont honestly think someone is gonna loan us their first choice do you?
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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theres an up and coming left back called nigel winterburn. we should give him a go. or if we wanna take a chance, what about stewart houston!! why do we seem to suffer more than most every season with injurys to key players? no squad in this or any other league could plan for that bad luck. sadly just one of those things. vertonghen would be a great addition though.
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i agree its a quickfix so we cant possible be lookin at someone for the long term. Taiwo wud certainli give us some wideth goin forward and thoes trademark lond range shootin. He is also very useful from a dead ball situation just check out his goal average at his time wit OM.
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I’d prefer Vertonghen, but I rate Taiwo aswell. How about a loan deal with an option to buy at the end of the season?
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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Its a smart move in my books. And lets forget that some of our greatest players that aw brought were forgotten about players or miss handled toure if you remember was a complete no body who couldn’t find a proper team untill aw gave him chance. So lets have a bit more fath cos no one ever thought we’d be this close to the top at this point of the season
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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Remember it’s a loan and not a permanent deal. And even at that Taiwo is a quality player better than most leftbacks in the EPL. Physical, defensive, attacking and with a thunderous left foot. If he come on loan I’m 100% sure a permanent deal will be struck in the summer.
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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Yeah!!! If not vertongen than taiwo is the better option…!
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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as much as i hope that taiwo will come im afraid he is not ,cause wenger is counting on santos and gibbs ,,gibbs is close to come back and taiwo hasnt played a whole season wich means how on earth does he get his game fitness and his sharpness back so fast?i mean that is also the same prolem for bridge u can train individualy but its not as intense as 90 min. prem. action ,,but if he wants to sign a lb on loan i would go for taiwo ,i mean he is strong he is big ive seen him play since he was 20 , he reminds me a bit of riise ,but we will see with wenger u never know.cause he wont tell anything
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Vertonghen is the answer but is he available and does he want to come to Emirates? The two names that have been on my lips for months is Vertonghen and Falcao. The latter is not available anymore but I do think we should try to pair up Vermaelen with Vertonghen they`re like book ends.
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get him on board he can attack as well as defend best suited to our game
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jans vortghen is the answer he can play centre half,defensive mid and left back camon wenge arsenal is not asmall club to take left overs
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that’s a good signing,for the fact that he is well built and strong,i have followed taiwo closely,he was once awarded the best left legged player at the ligue 1,also he is a cult hero among the fans at marseille because of his outstanding shot at goal,and he seems to prevent goals from coming into the goal post because of no nonsense approach and sharp sightedness,the reason his not doing well at milan is because milan use their fullbacks as wingers,because he’s coming so easy doesn’t make him a mediocre player at least he will always challenge arteta for the set pieces on the pitch.
top gunner agree or not ?
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3 Left Backs!
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Taiwo hasn’t been playing so isn’t match fit, great player Who we’ve been linked with before but how long would it take to get him fit
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Out of tune?. Like or Dislike:
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Mr Wenger, go for Verthongen
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ITS A GREAT DEAL BUT HE WONT PLAY AGAINST MILAN IN THE CL!!
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I thought wenger should do something better in the market than lone.
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What’s happening with our young left back Pedro betelho?
Top Gooner!. Agree or not?:
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Verthongen for me as he can be placed in another position if and when Gibbs returns. santos is said to be out till march so really his season is over. Taiwo went to Milan for financial reasons as he supposedly had the choice to join us in the summer when he had a chance to play regular football. Fitness shouldn’t be an issue as I don’t think Gibbs has played many more games than Tiawo So when he comes back he will work to hard to get back into the swing and I give him 3 games and back on the injury list. (I do feel for him) So verthongen is the one for me as he will cover all defensive areas from midfield so as to rest players when needed.
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Isnt taiwo going to the acn? also signing him would take our foreign tally to 19 with henry meaning 2 will have to be left out or moved. sure its no hardship to leave out almunia and squillaci but if we cannot find takers we will be paying £6m a year to 2 30+ players that cannot play. i cant see the board buying that one.
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Vertonghen is the man not only is he a better left back than santos and gibbs he is a better defensive midfielder than song and is such a good centre back that he forces vermaelen to left back who IMO is also a far better left back than santos and gibbs. vertonghen is also better than mertesacker djourou and koscielny. squillaci plus 10m would nail his signing.
arshavin chamakh park and 10m for hazard and sow seems like a fair deal. diaby plus 10m for mvila sounds even better we can recoup that 30m by selling walcott to chelsea.
then we can add podolski and reus as well their signings can be covered by selling rosicky denilson bendtner and vela
one final piece of dealing sell almunia fabianski and mannone and buy a decent no.2 keeper promoting shea and martinez up to 3 and 4.
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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People tend to forget that Santos ΨåS̤̈̊ neither playing when he joined arsenal as he ΨåS̤̈̊ match rusty but later picked form. Who said Taiwo won’t do well at Arsenal. He only made mistake by not joining us in the first place. Wenger sign him in the meantime please. We can’t afford to give up the top four spot now.
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We should go for Martin Caceres. He isnt cup-tied. Has quality, pace n strength. Would take him permanently. He can play LB/RB and CB. We could do with such a player. Also sell Squillaci, who is a waste of space.
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Yeah, we purchase vertonghen 4 say 10m, then gibbs and santos return. What next,what do we do with all the 3! Loan move sh’d suffice, or sell either santos or gibbs and buy verto! But wenger will take long negotiating the loan deal, that by the time it goes thru or falls thru gibbs will be back! Or santos!
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taiwo istgud but i prefer buying vertoghen outrightly
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Vertonghen ……..would be my pick
look at are team
for about 10 games are deffence players have all been playing out of position, and being fair they all have done pritty well
wenger likes his players to play all over, not just be able to play in one position
we let frimmy go to wolves on lone and he was are second pick deffence mid after song.
Someone like vertahohn would be able to play across the back and also be good cover for song.
gibbs and sontos both aint been soild left backs.
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I r8 taiwo, get him on loan with a view to a permanent deal e.g. 5m buy clause, get him if gibbs keeps getting injured
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Whatever our plan is,we better be fast & please,no PIYP!!
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taiwo will be great deal if it cab work out
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the amount of money that wenger has got in his pocket from the sales of fabregas and na$ri we shouldnt be going for loans. we should be trying to push for the title by spending big money on talented players. why not buy vertoghen so he can be cover for defensive mid, centre back and left back. Then sign podolski he is quality and if rvp gets injured he will be the perfect replacement. open your eyes and open your wallet wenger !
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I really like vertoghen but hes not a propa fullback no matter how versatile ppl say he is. I think we shud get him for CB n CDM, he’ll have to do at LB, but to be honest we really need an out n out LB.
also, I dont think we should let gibbs come back as soon as possible, he’ll just get injured again, give him some surplus recovery time with few games towards the end. I really want gibbs to come back n stay in the squad consistently.
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If Wenger gets Taiwo on loan, he will regret it because Taiwo is not very good defensively. For God’s sake, let Wenger sign Vertonghen if he is available and not be going round and round. Even if Gibbs is back, how good is he?
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Arsenal must get a LB whether on loan or full purchase. if vertoghen tawio or baines do the trick bring them aboard, but not bridge, him in red and white rubbing shoulders with rvp and co?
nah mate if dats da case i’ll injure him personally and i will play LB instead even though im a CB.
Just not bridge pls hes not worth the investment!
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Wont he go for the African Cup of Nations ??
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For those of you saying that taiwo is not good enough to be at arsenal have another thing coming. Taiwo is a complete tank and can run days on end and also has a hammer of a left foot in my opinion he would be great as he contributes going forward with his pace and uses his tackling ability for defence. We need TAIWO
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I’ve always rated taiwo, probably the best left back that has come out of africa in recent years, he is extremely strong and extremely fast, not to mention how solid he is defensively and his shooting abilities are as good as most strikers. He goes forward as much as santos does, but he has the pace and stamina to get back and do the job defensively, ive watched him for ages, when he was at marseille, he was regarded as one of the best left backs in europe, up there with ashley cole and evra, but i see him as a better player than both of them. On the other hand i really like santos, but i’d like to see us play him in the song role or on the left wing, because he has amazing skill, an amazing shot, good cross and that brazlian flair, but he isn’t the best defender on the planet, i see him more as a winger. I still dont think gibbs is, or ever will be good enough, he is inconsistent and does make mistakes, and he is just another arsenal player with so much potential but is constantly injured, like diaby.
Taiwo would be one of the best buys we’ve done in the last 3 or 4 years
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I’m a Nigerian & all that comes to mind is ‘God Forbid!’
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Jeez, guys! get your facts rite! how can tawio go to ANC when nigeria havent qualified?
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Some of the comments Ive read here are quite shocking. You lot are like kids in a candy store. What are we gonna do with all these players you keep asking Wenger to buy? We get Vertoghen and we have a situation on our hands cos we cnt play them all at once. Verto wont come to Arsenal to sit on the bench, so how do we handle Santos and Gibbs? When Sagna and Jenkinson are fit theres no place for Djourou which means one more defender with no game time. Whats the sense in that?? IMO get Taiwo on loan as cover, we can choose to keep him or let him leave. Thats the most sensible move if you ask me. We are not City who buy first and think later.
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there will be some problems with Taiwo though. I believe he is going to the Africa cup of nations, and also, we wont be able to use him in the CL because he’s featured in all 4 of Milans games.
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Vertoghen IS NOT A LB!!!!!! Taiwo is ok for this situation.
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DNT, so isnt Vermaelen but he nailed that posistion
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Andreas Beck??? he can play LB and RB… is a good option…
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exposed again…
you slag me every time i give you the truth about Djourou & Arshavin
so do your worst – yet again he proves just what a pile of shit (with orange hair) he is…
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Gary i could’nt agree with you more he is absolute rubbish and so is squillachi plz wenger sort this problem b4 its too late
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i think we need clichy back and we should buy gary cahill finaly and english defender we could have
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Whether it is Vertoghen, Baines, Cissokho or Taiwo, I want the deal to be concluded yesterday. Please do not drag until the last day. How much will we save compare to the points lost? Either one of these are better than the left back we have currently, so why loan only? I will prefer loan + an option to sign the person up permanently.
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Taiwo is a quality that will fit in fast at arsenal,he is a player even better than Gibbs and Santos,he is strong,attacking minded and quick to recover with a distinctive power in shooting and accuracy.We need him now if Wenger will agree to utilize this opportunity.People saw the need for additional defensive option to avoid this kind of crisis just as we are still crying and calling for a support for RVP,but the coach don’t see it that way,always waiting till the dying minute which is not always the best.
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Yes Taiwo would be very good for Arsenal-He is fast ,defends well and carry a bullet shot with his left foot.AW should get him fast without further delay.
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