Yeah, don't get me wrong, there was a lot more to Per than ability on the ball. I don't think Chambers has the same organising mind for one thing. But if you put him next to someone who's capable to lead he should be fine.

Yeah, Mertesacker is still so underrated here. He is the only defender that made Koscielny play at his highest level. Mert + Kos partnership is one of the best under Wenger, probably only behind Adams/Keown and Campbell/Toure.

Chambers was just played in the wrong position at the start. Even in the first season whenever he played CB he looked great. There's a good defender there in the making, I would say 16m for him will look like a bargain in the near future.

Gabriel for 10m was a really smart buy too. He was fantastic in a few big matches he played for us, and is underrated in many others due to his "messy" image. 10m is really nothing for a defender of his age and we made a profit shortly after. Now he is one of the best defenders in La Liga again and indispensable for Valencia. We should have sold Mustafi, not him.

Clrnc wrote:

Gabriel for 10m was a really smart buy too. He was fantastic in a few big matches he played for us, and is underrated in many others due to his "messy" image. 10m is really nothing for a defender of his age and we made a profit shortly after. Now he is one of the best defenders in La Liga again and indispensable for Valencia. We should have sold Mustafi, not him.

Well Mustafi was fantastic for Valencia too, a lot more fantastic than Gabriel in fact. It's clearly the system and not the players, we need someone to hold our centre backs' hands but I'd wait and see how Emery does with our current bunch before spending big.

Yeah, I rated Gabriel more highly than Mustafi, that's for sure. The former is actually physically impressive, whereas the latter has absolutely no attributes of note.

jones wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Gabriel for 10m was a really smart buy too. He was fantastic in a few big matches he played for us, and is underrated in many others due to his "messy" image. 10m is really nothing for a defender of his age and we made a profit shortly after. Now he is one of the best defenders in La Liga again and indispensable for Valencia. We should have sold Mustafi, not him.

Well Mustafi was fantastic for Valencia too, a lot more fantastic than Gabriel in fact. It's clearly the system and not the players, we need someone to hold our centre backs' hands but I'd wait and see how Emery does with our current bunch before spending big.

I don't agree at all to be honest. Mustafi was good for Valencia for 3/4 of his first season, total and utter crap in his 2nd. His problems is not with the system, but mainly individual errors and lack of intelligence in defensive situations and positioning.

That's selling him well short in my opinion. I was ecstatic when we signed him because he was beyond just 'good' in his first season there, him and Otamendi were the best centre back pairing in La Liga, arguably in Europe that season. Valencia were a complete shambles in his second season what with firing four managers in nine months but I thought he was one of the few to come out of that season with some credit.

I guess we'll see soon enough what Emery can get out of him, he's definitely young enough to still turn it around. Quite a few defensive talents popping up everywhere at the moment though so if he doesn't work out there are plenty guys around if Mislintat manages to nab one.

I think Mustafi's ceiling is much much higher than what he's shown, and I also think his attitude and competitiveness are important attributes to have around. I really hope he can turn it around.

His paps confirmed Sokratis is in London and will undergo a medical with us tomorrow

Hmm it’s an improvement I guess but not what I wanted

His Dad also confirmed he rejected United to come here.

What position does his Dad play then?

Daz wrote:

What position does his Dad play then?

(hopefully goalkeeper?)

can't say i've been overly impressed with sokratis over the years, but i'm glad we're addressing a problem area quickly, given we're in an abbreviated window with a WC smack in the middle

jones wrote:

That's selling him well short in my opinion. I was ecstatic when we signed him because he was beyond just 'good' in his first season there, him and Otamendi were the best centre back pairing in La Liga, arguably in Europe that season. Valencia were a complete shambles in his second season what with firing four managers in nine months but I thought he was one of the few to come out of that season with some credit.

I guess we'll see soon enough what Emery can get out of him, he's definitely young enough to still turn it around. Quite a few defensive talents popping up everywhere at the moment though so if he doesn't work out there are plenty guys around if Mislintat manages to nab one.

Otamendi also was awful for city at first, for quite a while too, but it was obvious there was huge ability there as well.

Sokratis is a steal for EUR 17m.

Gurgen wrote:

Sokratis is a steal for EUR 17m.

Seems a fair deal given his age. He has no residual value. 

Well the defence sorely needed an experienced leader so hopefully Sokratis can raise the levels of Bellerin, Chambers and Mustafi and add some stability in his own position.

I know all defenders have their bad moments, but I saw this and

Edit: That's weird. The [youtube] tag embeds the video when I preview the post but not in the actual post itself. Not sure why.

Fixed it for you. [youtube] isn't the tag, its

Thanks Qwiss.