Thomas Vermaelen: Mr. Wenger’s genuis

I remember seeing the name Thomas Vermaelen as one of the in-players for Arsenal and saying to myself, who is this dude and why are we buying him?  Then I found out in my quick search that he was a defender and I was a little less concerned basically because if there was any position, in my opinion, Arsenal lacked depth and strength without a doubt was in the defense. But I must say I still wasn’t completely convinced by this acquisition mainly because I honestly hadn’t heard of or about him prior and wondered if he could do anything to bolster our backline. Then I remembered Arsene Wenger is known as ‘the Professor’!

There have been recent clamors, justifiably or not, for questions to be asked of Arsene Wenger, his philosophy and most controversially his attitude or lack of it in the transfer market. Most of these concerns stem from the lack of trophies for the past 5 years. He brought in only one player to pair with William Gallas in the central defense as the major signing and believes that every other area of the pitch was adequately staffed!  A lot of fans have issues with this, but this is a topic that can be contended for days. The one major signing as shown the genius of this coach! Why? For starters, Arsenal’s defense looks a lot more confident and organized than last season at this stage of the season, because of the pairing of William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen, despite the recent losses to the Manchester teams. 

Vermaelen is an intelligent defender and very agile. He loves going forward and has the pace to fall back as quickly as possible as seen in his first few games. He has a powerful left foot and knows where the goal is when he goes forward. He is only 6 foot tall, which was almost a deterring factor to his purchase, but Thomas Vermaelen has a great leap to compensate for his height. Finally, 5 games into the season (4 – 0 win over Wigan in which he scored two beauties to be envied by all including strikers) and Thomas Vermaelen is Arsenal’s top goal scorer. Very impressive! Sounds like an excellent buy to me, wouldn’t you agree? Barring any injuries, will he remain the top scorer at the end of the season? Potentially yes because of the profligacy of our forwards!

When Mr. Wenger was asked why he decided to buy Vermaelen, he said amongst other things “I like as well to have a right-footed and a left-footed player at the back, because it’s natural and it’s good for passing out of the back like we want to play. So that is something interesting and the fact that he’s a resilient guy”.
Mr. Wenger sees and knows how he wants to play and knows exactly who would fit into that system. Vermaelen has been one of the best signings for Arsenal in recent years he (Arsene Wenger) should be applauded for this!

Unearthing otherwise relatively unknown talent and turning them into great players is one quality Mr. Wenger has and for all the criticisms he’s been getting for the what the team seems to lack, I think one thing should be pointed out and praised. Mr. Wenger’s philosophy and belief may not be shared by many but has certainly proven to be true once again: you don’t need to be a big name to be a big player!

Kudos Mr. Wenger, kudos!