Three Top Players Arsenal Almost Signed This Summer

2. Kostas Manolas – formerly of Olympiakos, now of AS Roma

Kostas Manolas is a relatively young, pacey and versatile defender, who can operate at both centre-back and defensive midfield. The Greek international put in some impressive performances for both Greek champions Olympiakos and the Greece national team last season, but has since completed a move to Serie A runners-up AS Roma. Whilst the move to Roma is certainly a good one for Manolas, it was reported that he was in talks with Arsenal for a considerable amount of time, but for whatever reason chose Italy to be his next destination.

Shortly after Arsenal agreed a deal to sell former Club captain Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona for a fee in the region of £15m, Arsenal were linked with several new centre-backs. Manolas was the most strongly-linked, however, and it was reported that the deal was almost a certainty. There were then talks of the deal stalling, as Manolas was apparently keen to be sure that Arsenal would be participating in the Champions League this season. Other reports suggested that Manolas was unsure as to whether he would get enough game time at The Emirates, with Arsenal having an established centre-back pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny already set-up. For whatever reason, Manolas chose to move to AS Roma, and with Arsenal dithering on other centre-back transfer targets, the Gunners have been left remarkably short in defence.

The situation leaves Arsenal with just six first-team defenders covering four positions – seven if you count Spanish youngster Hector Bellerin. Whilst this may be enough for the forthcoming season, with Kieran Gibbs currently out with an injury, the Gunners are just one injury away from a defensive crisis. Nacho Monreal is the only other left-back at the Club, and Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny are the only two out-and-out centre-backs. Calum Chambers has been covering for one or the other well so far this season, but Chambers was brought in to be a back-up right-back to Mathieu Debuchy. This could place added responsibility on youngster Hector Bellerin to fill in for first-team players this season, which is far from ideal. In conclusion, Arsene Wenger’s failure to secure the Manolas deal has left the Gunners is a dangerous position. Click the page numbers below to view the rest of the article.