Vertonghen wants Arsenal

Arsenal have been presented with an invitation to sign the Belgium international Jan Vertonghen as part to the club's efforts to restore their competitiveness in the Premier League and convince key players not to leave them.

Related

■ Salomon Kalou will 'not fight for a new deal' at Chelsea
Experience counts in the psychological warfare
Topic Arsene Wenger Arsenal English Premier League football teams English Premier League (EPL)
The Dutch club Ajax have agreed to allow the versatile left-sided defender to leave if their €13 million (Dh63.7m) asking price is met and the player's preference is to join the London club.

Vertonghen, who turns 25 this month, can play in central defence, left-back or as a holding midfielder.

He has admirers across the continent. The two Manchester clubs have monitored him closely, and Tottenham regard the Belgian as a potential successor to Ledley King.

Part of Arsenal's appeal to Vertonghen is his friendship with international colleague and former Ajax teammate Thomas Vermaelen, who has introduced him to Arsene Wenger on trips to the UK.

A further attraction is London's suitability to Sophie de Vries, Vertonghen's girlfriend, who is pursuing a career as a theatre director.

Vertonghen has said that he will not prioritise financial terms; a salary of £3m (Dh17.6m) is likely at Arsenal. He is, however, keen to have his future determined early in the summer. Last week, he said he hopes to have "clarity" in June.

At the other end of the pitch, Arsenal have contacted Olivier Giroud to assess the France international striker's interest in joining the team. The French first division's leading scorer believes he will be allowed to leave Montpellier for a fee of between €10m to €15m despite his club president's statements that the tall and technically able striker is worth four times that amount.

Wenger already has secured the €13m acquisition of the Germany striker Lukas Podolski, and has discussed taking Salomon Kalou on a free transfer from Chelsea. The Ivory Coast forward has refused to renew his contract at Stamford Bridge, telling friends that his ambition is to play for Arsenal.

Whether this movement will be enough to convince Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott to extend their contracts remains to be seen.

Van Persie will need to be rewarded with Arsenal's richest deal; he has provisionally agreed a contract worth £210,000 a week should he join Manchester City.

Also entering his final year, Walcott has been unimpressed by Wenger's efforts to retain him to date. Asked last week when Arsenal would secure his two leading scorers, Wenger said: "Very early.

"To say that I am always confident, yes, I am. Of course we want to keep our best players.

"These players want to win things and they want to be in a team that has a chance. Our end of season will help … me convince them that they can. It depends now how well we finish."

Arsenal lost 2-1 to QPR on Saturday.

"Newspapers open talks now. They should inform me how much they offer and for how long because I would like to know."

GoonerJay29 wrote:He can "want" us all he wants. We don't need a defender of that calibre.

REWB wrote:the thing is verton is better than mertesacker, simple as that. he will be 3rd choice and he will be getting game time. mertesacker will be 4th choice

julias wrote:you guys are saying that we don't need so many good Verm/Kosh type CBs and I agree

and then next season we will be saying the only reason we are 4th is because we had defensive injuries

when are we gonna learn lol

gunnerlistick wrote:

julias wrote:you guys are saying that we don't need so many good Verm/Kosh type CBs and I agree

and then next season we will be saying the only reason we are 4th is because we had defensive injuries

when are we gonna learn lol

We are not city lol, we can't sign every player and keep them happy. what happens next season if we start with all centre halves fit. Do you think Mertesacker and Vertonghen will be happy on the bench ??, they are international players ffs

Lex wrote:I'm surprised (and a little shocked) at how much people underrate Mertesacker

Legend wrote:as much i as i would want him, we can't afford to have another 50k+ bench player,

we should either be promoting a young CB (Bartley or Miquel) or buying one...