Could Arsene Wenger be planning to move Thomas Vermaelen into defensive midfield? It is a well known issue at Arsenal that the club needs a defensive midfielder but the club hasn’t really shown much interest in any players except Victor Wanyama, but now even a deal for him doesn’t look likely.

There has been talk of Fellaini and the media have reported bids being made recently but even Fellaini is used to playing in attacking positions lately and may be more likely to join David Moyes at Manchester United if they make an offer for him. The bookies and the media are convinced that Fellaini will go to Arsenal but nothing is a certainty in football.

Some people have mentioned before that Thomas Vermaelen should try his luck in defensive midfield and it may just be about to happen. Wenger dropped him towards the end of the season after a string of poor performances that lead to Arsenal conceding several bad goals. Playing in front of the back four would mean that the odd mistake would not be so crucial, a bit like Chelsea sometimes do with David Luiz.

Vermaelen is the club captain and surely the boss won’t want to sell his captain for the third season in a row. Barcelona were interested in him around a month ago but speculation about that has since dampened and the signs point toward him staying at the club.

The club could solve two problems at the same time by moving him to this new position as they wouldn’t necessarily need to buy a new player in defensive mid. Also Arsenal would be free to continue using Mertesacker and Koscielny at the back without having to leave Vermaelen out. If Wenger wanted, he could buy some cover in defence if he has some money left over at the end of transfer proceedings.

Do you agree that the team will be better off with Vermaelen playing in defensive midfield or should we have faith in him to overcome his poor form of last season?

15 thoughts on “Vermaelen to stay at Arsenal but play in midfield?

  1. Lets stop dis tlk of using a defender for a defensive midfielder. Lets stop dis xperimenting. Wenger jus deep ur hands in2 our purse & buy us a quality defensive midfielder.

    1. SHUT UP! WHAT DO YOU KNOW? I THINK THE ARTICLE IS SPOT ON & I WAS MYSELF THINKING ON THE SAME LINES.

  2. He would play well in midfield and with a few runs forward.remember in his first season he scored around 9 goals

  3. STOP SELLING OUR BETTER PLAYERS FOR ONCE.. vermaelen is worth keeping, so give that a try!

  4. what a crazy idea! waoh! honestly you are right at it. he does not have the stamina of a last man, yea sitting in front of the back four will be best for our capt. giving he is offensive going forward, he is not the stiff type, giving he also skilful on the ball. if Arsene can take his chance, there’ll be no need for a defensive MDF and probably Diaby resurgence can only add more steel to our defencive cover

  5. Vermaelen is too good a player for Arsenal, to be discarded. Arsene will know how best to use him.

  6. To me its a gud idea nd at d same time it could be a risk.i dont think wenger wil buy any defender i wil sugest dat arsenal need is in dm nd filaini is d answer.

  7. Stupid idea.

    The issue with TV at CB was the frequency of defensive errors; he made the most frequent errors of any CB in the EPL.

    Why would this change by shunting him up the field by 20 feet?

    In any case, Ramsey and Arteta are better, and formed a good partnership. Why would you break up this partnership? Not only did the win 9 draw 2 of the final 11 games, but they also cut down the frequency of errors made by a huge amount. In the first 28 games we made 34 defensive errors, leading to 34 goals. With Ramsey and Arteta in CM we made 2 in 9.

    Simply put we dont need a DM. Fellaini is never going to happen; for a start his passing is poor. In addition, Ramsey and Arteta are better on the ground and win challenges more frequently (Ramsey has a tackle succes of 90%; way higher than Fellaini). Both can also pass. The only advantage to Fellaini is his aerial ability.

    1. @frank- This is the most logical and honest assessment of Felliani I have ever read. We do not need him. Vermaelen had an off season but he is a beast and will do very well in midfield.

  8. I think verminator with be a good no rubbish dm and he can score goals.U remember his last minute winner against newcastle?he can do better than that.He has been our best defender until recent time.Form is temporary,class is permanant.Give him a shot.HE’S OUR CAPTAIN and WE ARE GOONERS.

  9. It doesn’t matter where Vermaelen plays, we would still need two defensive players. If he stays at CB we need another CB (all top clubs have 4 CBs in their squad) and a DM, if he plays at DM we will need two CBs, one of which must be quality. Even though the DM parternship of Arteta and Ramsey did well we still need a 3rd DM for rotation and resting, that’s just common sense.

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