Per Mertesacker

Per is a great 3rd or 4th choice centre back.

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Agreed. Heā€™d be a half decent experienced back up. Plus you get the feeling he is well respected around the club. Heā€™s the CB version of Arteta lol.

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Not sure thereā€™s a better third choice CB in the Premier League right now. Highly underrated throughout his career. Should be head and shoulders above Gabriel and young Holding in the pecking order. Weā€™ll see what the boss thinks once Per returns.

I donā€™t know about head and shoulders above Holding but defiantly above him yeah.

We could keep him if we do what wenger did with Dennis pay per play and when fit which is what we should have done with Rosicky ,Arteta,Flamini instead of paying massive wages . But i fear he is done !

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Would be good for both us and him, imo.

He is only 32.
I would keep him for another couple of season to be that experienced backup, every big club needs.

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The fact that Hannover are the only club interested in him should indicate that he has to go to the German second division to get first team football to find his level, rather than a top European league.

I was criticised last season for saying we need a top CB to partner Kos, and I canā€™t believe there were supporters that thought Mertesacker was good enough for us to challenge for the PL.

He is far too slow, and for someone so tall not even that great in the air, so now we have Kos and Mustafi, we donā€™t need Mertesacker anywhere near the first team and we look far more solid in defence.

We have Gabriel, Holding and Chambers, so when his contract is up we should move Mertesacker on.
Itā€™s players like him, Arterta, Flamini, Rosicky, Diaby etc, that earn a lot of money, yet contribute very little to the first team, that have been holding us back, so perhaps Wenger has seen that buying quality is the way to go.

We have arguably the best defensive players in the P{L, so I donā€™t want players like Mertesacker messing that up, even on the bench.

You donā€™t know that for a fact though.
Itā€™s not a transfer season & he is currently injured; so obviously he wonā€™t be attracting many clubs.

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Possibly.
But Iā€™m fairly sure that there wonā€™t be another top European club that would be interested in him.
I would doubt that most PL teams wouldnā€™t either, especially as he is a high earner and he is an old player.
He certainly has experience, but as soon as Mustafa walked into our first team, you could tell the difference i quality.

Itā€™s a shame we had to wait so long for a top CB, because I think we persisted with Mertesacker for too long, and itā€™s players in key positions like this, that can make the difference between winning the PL and not.

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You love trying to shit on Mertesacker at every given opportunity mate. Most of your points against his ability are beyond over the top. Picking out the very few moments, where he may have been done for pace or been pulled out of position, over a period of years in which the Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership was far more successful than unsuccessfulā€¦ thatā€™s just a hater desperately trying to tighten the screw. From my experience discussing Arsenal with people generally, Mertesacker is the prime scapegoat for the most unintelligent interpreters of the sport. The kinds of fans that are so unaware of how clueless they really are. The kinds that think pace is the most important attribute in any footballer. I donā€™t think you fall into that simple mindset category but some of your views are quite similar. Generally I think not being able to read what players do well and how they positively influence the team, will inevitably lead to horribly unjustified scapegoating.

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Nah. There was a part/core of players in the starting eleven simply not good enough for the level we aspire. Mertesacker was one of those players. With Cech, Sanchez, Mustafi and Xhaka the clean up has gone a far way already. But we are not there yet.

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No talk on Per for a while, anyone know how his recovery is going and if heā€™s still due to return in the new year?

Last I heard heā€™s back in light training

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Can he play right-back?

Imagine the scenes, Mertesacker bombing down the right, pin-point cross, GOAL. :joy_cat: :joy_cat:

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Mustafi is the second best RB at the club so per slotting into the middle if we have to shift mustafi out wide if a good option to have

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Yeah then wont get back in position till the second half

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Sanchez backup.

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