Now that apparent first choice centre-half Kostas Manolas has joined Roma, the market is shrinking in terms of who could come in as an alternative to Thomas Vermaelen, but that doesn't mean that Wenger will stop looking. At the minute, Arsenal have only Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Chambers as available centre-halves, and that plainly is not enough for a season fighting on four competition fronts. If any of those players suffers injury - and it seems likely that Koscielny will again at some point this season, the Gunners be forced to push ill-fitting jigsaw pieces into crucial holes in the team. Quite who Arsenal can buy at this stage remains to be seen, and if they are going to push through a deal last minute, either a loan or a hugely inflated offer might be the only options.
