It seems that bringing in Nacho Monreal was a better deal than expected. According to Arsenal’s medical staff, Kieran Gibbs will be unavailable for as much as twice the time initially expected. After the Liverpool encounter Gibbs had severe thigh pains, further investigation showed that he will be out for at least six weeks. Wenger’s determination to bring a left-back paid off. With important matches approaching, a new defender was a necessity considering Santos’ poor form and lack of concentration.

Kieran Gibbs will not be able to help his team against Bayern Munich, and will miss both Champion League encounters. Wenger said that although Monreal has been scouted for some time now, Gibbs’ injury played a pretty big part in signing the Spanish international.

Nacho Monreal was brought in to star in Premier League matches and the FA Cup, being unable to perform in the next stage of the Champions League. He will miss the battle with the German side because he has already played for Malaga during the group stages. The only solution for Wenger is Andre Santos, who was heavily critiqued over his last performances because he cannot get his head in the game. Arsene Wenger says that bringing in some competition for a spot in the starting line-up will motivate Santos and improve his game.

Santos’ poor performance against Liverpool was commented on by a vast majority of fans, who said he is not a viable alternative for Gibbs. Wenger defended his player and implied that the Brazilian will perform better and that he is the type of player who needs to be pushed harder than others in order to excel.

Wenger’s transfer policy throughout the years has not been very popular and signing players like Monreal came out of pure necessity. Fans said that Arsenal needs to add some fire power to their starting line-up and that the middle section of the team would improve its efficiency with a proper transfer. Wenger replied that he puts his entire trust into his players who, although very young, they have already reached a certain level of experience that is more than enough to help them perform at a very high level in all major competitions.

Just a day after Wenger issued this statement Roy Hodgson said that Jack Wilshere is ready to play for the senior national team and that he is exempt from performing for the U21 squad this summer. He backed up his comments by saying the 21 year old midfielder is not to be compared to Jones, Sterling, Zaha or Henderson, because he is already an established member of Arsenal’s first team. He also said that Wilshere proved himself with every occasion and that he is ready to perform at the highest possible level. With this said, the player will be on the pitch in May against Ireland and fly to Brazil afterwards.

This is not the only young Arsenal player performing at international level and fans should take that into consideration before critiquing Wenger’s way of seeing things as far as creating a competitive team goes.