I am delighted to welcome a young guest writer to Gunners Town today. His name is Amitay and he is a 16 years old Gunner form Israel who is absolutely in with love Arsenal. You can follow him on twitter @CoqTheRock
Winston Reid – Too Good to turn down opportunity?
Following Mathieu Debuchy’s three months injury and Kosicenly and Gibbs’s often fitness concerns – Arsene Wenger must sign a defender before the transfer window shuts. “We are out in the market and we are working very hard every day. All our scouts and our people are working very hard to find a defender” Wenger stated. Despite ongoing talk of the Paulista deal Arsenal have also be strongly linked with Reid and surely it is preferable to bring in a defender with Premier League experience? Now is Winston good enough to play for the Gunners and how could the deal work?
Reid, 26, is out of contract in the summer and his manager Sam Allardyce admits an attractive offer could see him leave this month. His agent hinted a move from Upton Park and claimed that if Reid won’t put his pen to a new deal in the next couple of days – he’s off to another club.
Now here comes something interesting – reports reveal that West Ham are interested in keeping Carl Jenkinson at the club. Indeed they have sounded out Arsenal about the possibility of him completing a permanent switch to Upton Park when his loan deal expires. However, the Gunners are asking 12m for him and the hammers certainly would not be looking to spend that much and will have to negotiate to get their wish. So with both clubs looking at the others player an interesting deal might be done. Jenkinson recently stated he’s had enough of warming the bench at Arsenal, and is keen on a permanent switch away from the Emirates Stadium.
All Whites Skipper
Reid grew up in Denmark but chose to play for the New Zealand, the country of his birth and his parentage. He made his international debut in a friendly against Australia in Melbourne in 2010 and within months was starring at the South Africa World Cup, helping his team keep a clean sheet in a shock win over Serbia in only his second international. Manager Ricky Herbert was “suitably impressed” with Reid’s performances and following the retirement of Ryan Nelsen from international football in 2013, Winston Reid was given the captain armband of the All Whites. As of October 2013, Reid has won 17 caps for his country.
Reid’s stats in the EPL made superb reading averaging 1.5 tackles per game, 2 interceptions and 9 clearances and winning 60% of his duels. If we compare him to Mertesacker he compares very favourably as Mertesacker averages only 0.9 tackles, 2 interceptions and 4.7 clearances. When compared to Laurent Koscienly he betters the Frenchman on tackles and clearances but Kos is better at intercepting. To me this suggests he would blend well with Koscielny and form a strong partnership, with his extra pace being a huge bonus over the aging Per.
Compelling evidence
Another interesting factor about Winston is that he was crowned Supporters Hammer of the year in 2012/13 and It speaks volumes when fans vote for a defender. He is 1.91 metres tall, strong, calm and confident – the exact attribute’s for a premier league defender. With his contract expiring in the summer – Wenger can gain a good player for a low fee and we all know how ‘Le Boss likes a ‘deal.’ It’s all up to Wenger now to get that bid in and get a bargain. Even if Wenger comes out buying another star defender and opportunities like this don’t arise too often and the popular BFG is not getting any younger or quicker!
More about Amitay:
As a hobby he edits Arsenal videos on YouTube(Arsenal editor match comps our good friend here on Gunners Town) and he is also a new but passionate writer trying to get as far as possible. He used to live in London for 10 years. Look out for him in Europe in a few years as he is an attacking midfielder for Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth team. Know on Twitter as @CoqTheRock and his personal favourite players is the Ox.
Winston Reid isn’t good enough for the Arsenal. Whilst Wenger does like a deal, he also doesn’t like buying players that he doesn’t feel are good enough. I think the dire situation we find ourselves in regarding defensive cover causes desperation amongst fans, there is an almost anything will do attitude and Reid’s contract status makes the connection stronger than it probably really is, I’m sure the player and his agent would love to make the move to The Arsenal. This Paulista fella looks a different class to Reid, a guy that could solve the problem in the longer term, which honestly is more than I expected and hoped for. I’ll trust the manager to detirmine which of the two is the better player and which player contributes beyond this year. I’ve seen enough of Reid to say he isn’t good enough for us.
Again
when you can buy a tall,strong and with prem experience for 2-3m go for it.
i have seen him play a couple of times and he looks very good. lets not forget that mertesacker is 30 and not getting younger.
It’s not really compelling evidence. You’d expect a West Ham defender to do more defending than an Arsenal defender.