Burnwinter wrote:

4-6 weeks means out until mid March, yeah. Add another month to get back to fitness and he's probably no use at all for the title chase. Though you never know.

otfgoon wrote:

4-6 weeks is the end of Feb or even mid Feb if you want to be optimistic. Assuming this is actually the problem then you'd imagine he'd be back by mid March.

I think the real prognosis is probably somewhere in between the two - reckon he might be back around April 1 😉

Either way I don't think he can safely be counted in the squad when he's about to undergo uncertain and possibly unsuccessful surgery.

we've all been here before with rosicky, bendtner, etc. we all know how this is going to end up. vermaelen might come back in april, then will have a relapse and miss the rest of the season. he's basically not going to play this season, it's blatantly obvious.

Wenger has said Vermaelen has realistic chance of facing Barcelona (on the 16th February), hasn't he?

If they have found the root cause of the problem, and this small operation rectifies it, then there's no reason he shouldn't be back for the final 3 months of the season.

I think that is an absolute pipe dream about Barcelona. Opinion only, but a realistic opinion.

I agree, it sounds optimistic to me too, but add two weeks onto that to, and it still only takes us to March 1st. There's a lot of football to be played after that, and if we've finally identified the problem, I don't see why we shouldn't realistically expect him to be there.

I suppose it's possible.

The Anzac-Biggus viewpoint: based on recent patterns a failure to sign the right player (or any player) may result in a defensive crisis -Song and Squillaci at CB with Denilson in front - leading in turn to Vermaelen being rushed back only to suffer a recurrence of soreness that keeps him out for another two months while our medicos try to work out how it should be treated.

We need Vermaelen to have a career here, so I really hope he's given adequate time to convalesce and get his leg to a functional state. I count myself moderately surprised that Djourou isn't out injured at the moment.

Oh, it could easily turn out that way mate - God knows we've seen it all before. Still, all being well, Vermaelen should be there for the serious stuff at the business end of the season. Although I agree, Djourou is a ticking time bomb right now. We are playing with fire if we play him in each of our next 3 games. Something will have to give somewhere, hopefully that's a new singing stepping into the breach.

It's not like Koscielny has been rested as well. He's new to the league and sooner or later the pace of the English game will get to him and when fatigued, injuries are much easier to come.

I'm really worried that Arsene isn't planning on bringing in a CB this Jan. We're one injury, even a minor one, away from a crisis. I'm almost at a state I'd happily see us bring in anyone we've been linked with. Just add one body in there and get some kind of rotation going until Squillaci and later Vermaelen are back.

I think Wenger's definitely looking.

There's some FUD on soccernet today about him having "abandoned the chase" but you have to watch what he does, not what he says. He's just spinning his usual line about how "if a player comes in he must complement the squad and compete for a place" etc. etc.

Wenger has been consistent about bringing in cover over the past two transfer windows, even if it hasn't been of the top quality that we'd prefer. We had a "full complement" at the start of the season, with Verm out for a somewhat indeterminate period, we're a man down.

Burnwinter wrote:

I suppose it's possible.

The Anzac-Biggus viewpoint: based on recent patterns a failure to sign the right player (or any player) may result in a defensive crisis -Song and Squillaci at CB with Denilson in front - leading in turn to Vermaelen being rushed back only to suffer a recurrence of soreness that keeps him out for another two months while our medicos try to work out how it should be treated.

We need Vermaelen to have a career here, so I really hope he's given adequate time to convalesce and get his leg to a functional state. I count myself moderately surprised that Djourou isn't out injured at the moment.

Whilst no one knows what will happen for certain, Confucius said - 'Study the past if you would divine the future' so "The Anzac-Biggus viewpoint" is not just the product of fevered desperate imaginations, but would seem the most moderate and reasonable assumption at this point.

Forget about Vermaelen, he's unlikely to play for us again this season never mind being involved prominently.
So what are you going to do about it Wenger?

Well, if you believe everyone favorite journo John Cross we're in for quite a few fairly high profile centre backs, Samba supposedly being the favorite.

Doesn't make sense to leave it to the last min since he have loads of games this month.

Thought you'd like that crack about the Anzac-Biggus viewpoint Biggsy - it's a bit like Judaeo-Christian values y'know 😉

There are two hurdles to overcome here - Wenger realising a new player, be it cb or dm which would allow song to move back as an emergency cb, is a must, and that we dont scupper any chances of securing the player wenger identifies by doing our usual lowball tactics when negotiating with the selling club

Honda would be a classy purchase for anyone

looks like a very talented yet very committed pro

Big fan of his workrate too. He worked harder than any forward in the World cup, bar Forlan.