Arsenal Transfer News: Arsenal Continue Reinforcement of Defence

Good morning, we have a fair old bit to keep us busy this morning so let's get started.

With the expiry of the contracts of William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, and Sol Campbell, Arsenal are currently a bit light on options in central defence, even with the new signing of Laurent Koscielny.

Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen and Johan Djourou make up the sum total of senior defenders currently at the club, which leaves a vacancy for one more to meet Arsene Wenger's standard four defenders.

The boss yesterday confirmed that we are still looking for another defender saying, "We identified Koscielny as a very, very strong centre half, He can be an outstanding addition to our team. But it is not over, we are still open to buy. We are still on the market for another defensive player because we have the need for one more."

Hopefully the club will press on to whomever the final addition to the defence will be fairly quickly.

It may yet be Sol Campbell, however he continues to widen his options for next season, after reportedly holding talks with Sunderland over a possible move.

With some of the squad already back in preseason training and the friendlies starting a week tomorrow, it would be to Arsenal's benefit to have the squad for next season decided at the earliest possible time, so they can get on with the work of preparing for next season.

Along with the defence, we'll hopefully see the goalkeeping position strengthened, and there's still a question of signing Joe Cole, hopefully these matters will also be resolved fairly soon.

Having said that, a report that emerged yesterday from a Kenyan newspaper that Arsene Wenger was going to make an announcement regarding the goalkeeping situation at the club after the World Cup has proved not so much wide of the mark but more in completely the opposite direction to it after Arsenal confirmed the "interview" never took place.

In slightly more genuine quotes from Arsene Wenger, he gives us the good news that Nicklas Bendtner's injury is not a "big problem," saying, "We have an assessment with him on Thursday, it is a groin problem and we see where we go from there. We need to check it to see if we have to do something. But no, it is not a big problem."

Which is good to hear, especially with Robin Van Persie having played a full World Cup this summer, Bendtner may find himself called upon fairly early.

However I suppose I should remind myself that Arsene's estimation of how long a player will be out injured is subject to an unknown multiplication, known as the "Rosicky Factor."

Juventus are apparently willing to let Felipe Melo go this summer. Arsenal's name has been thrown into the hat because of well publicised interest in him last summer.

Juventus are reportedly interested in Gael Clichy so perhaps they might angle for a swap deal, in which case I'm going to steal Arseblogger's suggestion of having a vuvuzela present at all negotiations which gets loudly sounded every time the Juventus officials try to speak.

Finally for today, Sheffield United are interested in taking Kyle Bartley on loan again after he spent three months there at the end of last season. With our current centre-half shortage I think we might have to wait for another signing before we let even the young defenders go anywhere.

Personally I thought we might see Bartley appearing on the fringes of the first team this season. He's one the manager seems to rate quite highly, so we'll have to see what Arsene's decision is about what would be best for Bartley's development.

Right, that's all for today, I must turn my attention to soiling myself about my driving test a little later on.

Nothing like spending a hundred quid on an exam to focus the mind. Till tomorrow, road hazards.