With Arsenal’s continued problem with our injured defender, Arsene Wenger has revealed that he may dip into the transfer market to bring someone in but he has made it clear that we should not expect any big name signings and they are not available and will not be sold by their clubs.

Rather Wenger will look at bringing in someone who is good and experienced but can not get a game at their current club or he will get in a young player no one knows about, and we all know how good Wenger is at finding these young talents.

“At the moment we are exploring potential situations we can take advantage of but there is nothing concrete,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.

“Hopefully the players will come back very quickly now. With Carl Jenkinson we had very good news on his scan and he is starting to practice again, we have Thomas Vermaelen who is the first to come back, Bacary Sagna is evolving well and Santos is doing well too. Let’s hope they all come back quickly.

“All over the world we have our eyes and we look for good [players].

“It is very simple in a situation like that. You might take a player who doesn’t play at all somewhere, who is not necessarily fit quicker than a player who is injured. Or you take a young, potential player who has not made it somewhere.

“A player who plays anywhere in the world at the moment will not be available on loan, it doesn’t exist. It can only be a guy who doesn’t play or a promising player who has not yet made it completely who you could take advantage of.

“That is why it is not an easy situation. You have to consider that a guy who has not played for two months is not necessarily back quicker than Bacary Sagna or another player who is just coming back from injury.”

With Arsenal’s growing injury problems to our defenders, it is being reported that Arsenal are lining up a move for Barcelona left-back Eric Abidal. The French defender is in the final year of his contract and Barcelona may decide to cash in on the 32-year-old this January if he does not want to sign a new contract or stand to lose him for free in the summer.

We all know how rumours linking Arsenal with French players are never to be ruled out largely due to Wenger’s positive influence on his fellow countrymen.

Abidal may not be the quickest of players these days but his experience could be very much welcome at Arsenal coupled with the fact that he can play across the entire back four with no problems.

Do you think that Abidal would be a good signing for Arsenal?

There has been a lot of talk today (Monday) about Arsenal making a move for out of favour Chelsea star Salomon Kalou. The striker is currently away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Ivory Coast but there are reports today that he has been allowed to leave the camp by Ivory Coast so that he can go tie up a deal with Arsenal ahead of a £3million move.

The 26-year-old Kalou would be a great addition to the Arsenal squad in my opinion. He really has not been given that many chances by Chelsea but when he has been asked to play he has delivered: 58 goals in 135 starts is not bad at all.

We need some more fire-power upfront for Arsenal to help Van Persie with the goals. Kalou may not be your fox in the box striker that many fans are calling out for but he will do well to link up with Van Persie and Gervinho.

What are your thoughts?

Demba Ba is one of the hottest names in the game today as the Newcastle striker has set the stage alight this season by banging in 15 goals already.

The giant striker signed in the summer by Newcastle from West Ham apparently has a release clause of £10million according to the Daily Mail.

If this information is correct then you can be sure that a whole host of top clubs are going to activate that clause and try sign Ba as he is a quality striker. You can understand why his release clause may be that low: not many people would have thought he would have hit the heights he has this season in the Premier League.

Now with Arsenal in need of another quality striker, I think we should make a bid for Demba Ba in the summer as he would be the perfect compliment to Robin van Persie. What are your thoughts?

There has been a lot of talk about Theo Walcott leaving Arsenal as he has not been offered a new contract with his current deal ending next year. It is being reported that Walcott wants a large pay rise in his new deal which Arsenal are not willing to offer.

With that said, Walcott has now been linked with a move away from Arsenal with Juventus being a potential destination.

But Arsene Wenger has come out and quashed any chance of Walcott leaving the club.

The Arsenal manager said: “We want to keep Theo and he knows that. Of course [he earns his money] he works every day and works very hard.

“His attitude is great, I have no problems with that at all.”

No Arsenal fans, it is not the Suarez you are thinking of! I do not think I would want Liverpool’s Luis Suarez at Arsenal after his racism saga.

But instead, Arsenal are linked with another goal scoring Suarez: Argentina forward Matias Suarez.

Suarez is currently playing for Belgian side Anderlecht and Arsenal scouts have been impressed with what they have seen of the 23-year-old striker and are ready to make a bid for him this January.

Suarez is valued at £10million which in my opinion is not a bad fee at all to pay for a striker who has managed to score 14 goals in 24 games this season.

With Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh off to the Africa Cup of Nations, we need some more backup in our striking division. We may have Thierry Henry back but we need someone more permanent to help Van Persie.

Arsenal are desperately short on defensive options right now and The Metro is reporting that we may be ready to sign out of favour Manchester City defender Wayne Bridge on loan for the rest of the season.

Bridge has fallen down the pecking order at City and the 31-year-old defender is looking for a new club.

Without Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos through injury, Bridge may prove to be a good short term signing for Arsenal.

We have struggled in the left-back position this season and having someone with the experience of Bridge could benefit us.

Arsene Wenger has revealed how he thought about buying Owen Hargreaves when he was still at Bayern Munich before he joined Manchester United. Wenger admits that at that time, Munich were asking too much for Hargreaves.

But fats forward to this past summer and Wenger has admitted again that he thought about signed Hargreaves again. “It’s hard to miss years through injury,” said Wenger. “When they come back it shows great mental strength and Owen Hargreaves has that.

“He was a regular in the England national team and now for years he has not played at all. Everybody is happy to see him back.

“When he played at Bayern Munich we followed him very closely but it was a big transfer,” he continued. “I think he was sold to Manchester United for £17million at the time and he only had one year left on his contract.

“So we didn’t move in for him at that time. In the summer, you consider it but we had players like Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin coming back [to Arsenal] – Alex Song and Abou Diaby in these defensive positions where we were not really in need.”

Former Gunner Robert Pires believes Robin van Persie will only remain at Arsenal if the club bring in big-name signing next summer and some form of silverware.

The former French international watched Van Persie score a brace of goals against Dortmund on Wednesday night, which secured The Gunners top spot in their group and a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Although Pires, who lifted two Premier League titles and three FA Cups during his six year spell with Arsenal, thinks Van Persie will commit his future to the north London club, the 38-year-old Frenchman believes the Gunners must acquire top notch signings in order to keep their prized asset:
‘I think he will stay. Why? He has status at Arsenal and he is highly regarded. But I also believe that Arsenal need to sign some important players next summer. That will help to keep him.’

Pires also mentions the need for Arsenal to end their six year trophy drought:
‘When you win a big competition, it helps to give a winning mentality.
‘It was difficult at the start of the season, but since their 1-0 win in Marseille, results have improved.
‘In people such as Yossi Benayoun, Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker, Arsenal have brought in experienced players. They have settled in and if this squad can win silverware this season, it can be the start of something.’

Article courtesy of Tony Merakli at Gunnershpere

The Mirror is reporting that Manchester City are set to make Arsenal captain, Robin Van Persie their number 1 transfer target in the summer.

This comes as no surprise to me as Van Persie is the hottest property in the game right now and all the other big clubs would love to have him in their side. But right now he is an Arsenal player and we are going to do all we can to keep him.

The basis on this speculation centers around the fact that Van Persie has not signed a new contract yet with Arsenal as he only has 18 months left on his current deal. It is thought that if Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League next season and not win an silverware this term, Van Persie may think about moving clubs in search of glory.

This would not be the first time that City raid Arsenal as they have already signed Nasri and Clichy. Losing Van Persie to them would be a bitter pill to swallow.

As for City, we all know that they have the money to pay the transfer fee we would demand for Van Persie and with them set to sell Tevez, they will also be in the hunt for another top class striker to replace the Argentine.

If City offer us ­£30million for Van Persie in the summer, should we take it if our captain has still not signed a new contract by then?