A bit of David Luiz with more experience and maturity
A £10m reported offer by Arsenal for Everton centre back Phil Jagielka has been rejected. This is £2m less than Wenger offered last summer for a defender he supposedly admires. One wonders if Arsenal work on an EBITDA like scheme for football players to come up with such a reduced offer. And here we go into paroxysms on how Sandro Rosell wants to knock of a couple of million because of Cesc Fabregas’s hamstrings.
With Jagielka showing no inclination to move to Arsenal there is really very little hope the Toffees will budge from the £20m they want for him. Besides ever transfer in this area is vitiated by Man Utd coughing up close to £20m for Phil Jones, a U21 prospect. So realistically, Arsenal better do better if they want a quality central defender whether it is Jagielka, Gary Cahill, or Chris Samba. Or else start look elsewhere away from the overpriced European market where even Jacques Tweedledee will cost in that range.
Wenger’s scouts in the Copa America should hopefully be sending back glowing reports on Venezuela’s Oswaldo Vizcarrondo who was the standout in this competition. He’s a year younger than Jagielka at 27 years of age and about 3″ taller. For his height he’s shown he moves quickly (refer to Brazil, Paraguay, and Chile matches), tackles with elan, and gets to all those aerial balls on set pieces at both ends. Then there is the X-factor with his physicality and competitive spirit that should stand him in good stead in the bruising Premier League. He will come at a third of the price for the budget conscious Arsenal manager. Now all that is needed is to take a chance. Vizcarrondo and Vermaelen sound like a good match.