Arsenal have this afternoon confirmed they have agreed terms with Werder Bremen for the transfer of Per Mertesacker. The deal is rumoured to be in the region of 9 million Euros and is subject to the completion of formal registration processes.
The recent 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford was likely the straw that broke the camel’s back and Arsene Wenger has moved to address the abject defensive display from the likes of Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny by bringing the 6 foot 6, 26 year old Werder Bremen captain to the Emirates…
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The Statistics
Mertesacker started off his career at local club Hannover, making 74 appearances across three seasons with 7 goals also coming his way. A standout performance at the 2006 World Cup persuaded Werder Bremen to hand over 5 million Euros for his future endeavours.
Since then he has gone from strength to strength as one of the most experienced, yet still reasonably young, members of the national team with over 70 caps to his name thus far.
Five years at Bremen has seen Mertesacker rack up a further 142 appearances and another 12 goals as his height advantage got him on the end of a number of Marko Marin set-pieces.
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The Prospects
Following the shell-shock of last weekend Wenger will be looking to shore up the Arsenal back-line, and pronto. Laurent Koscielny was signed for £10m just last summer but will be expected to fall down the pecking order as the German brings some experience and solidarity to the Gunners. For more info check out the twitter timeline of real-life scout Tor-Kristan Karlsen.
With an expected price of around 6.0 to come in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) he’ll be a risky bandwagon for the early wildcarders but if he can get beyond the springy Thomas Vermaelen and get his lofty bean on the end of some corners and free-kicks, he might just be worth his Fantasy crust.
