Vermaelen Determined To Stay With Arsenal No Matter What

Vermaelen Determined To Stay With Arsenal No Matter What

It looks like one of Arsenal’s best players, Thomas Vermaelen has really fallen out of favour with Wenger. His poor performances have made him the third choice for a place in the centre of the Gunners’ defense, behind Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny. According to Dailymail, the Belgian international, who is Arsenal’s club captain this season, looks determined to prove himself to Wenger in order to stay with the team after the summer transfer period.

If not for Per Mertesacker’s one match suspension, Vermaelen would have reached his fifth consecutive match on the bench. His performance against Norwich was not enough to convince Wenger he is worthy of a place in Arsenal’s first eleven. The match against Everton proved that Wenger feels he is not ready to come back into the first eleven for every game as he returned to the bench with Mertesacker restored to the team and Vermaelen remained on the bench for yesterday’s game against Fulham


The fact that he has been a substitute for the last number of games gives Vermaelen serious headaches. With Wenger looking to reconstruct the entire team during the summer, the Belgian international may be let go. The issue with him is not about having a place to go, but it’s about staying with Arsenal. Even with his recent poor performances Vermaelen is still of interest to many teams in the world. There have been recent rumors that linked him to Barcelona, who are looking for a replacement for Puyol, who has been missing out on a lot of matches because of some serious injuries.

Vermaelen’s contract expires in 2016 and he is determined to stick with it. The Belgian defender is ready to speak with Wenger in order to convince him that he is worth keeping around. Vermaelen is ready to fight for a spot in the first eleven, even if this season has been a nightmare because of ankle injuries. He wants to stay and prove he is worthy to be Arsenal’s captain once again. Wenger is looking to build an entirely new team which will probably follow the same pattern as it did over the past few years, meaning that the younger players will have priority so Vermaelen at the age of 27 years old does have that on his side.