Vermaelen’s Future Thrown into Further Doubt

Thomas Vermaelen’s future at Arsenal has been thrown into further doubt after manager Arsene Wenger refused to rule out the player leaving the club in the summer. The Belgian international is the captain of Arsenal, but he finds himself in a strange predicament where he is on the bench for most of the matches. The centre back partnership of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have been impressive for most of the season. This has resulted in Vermaelen been called upon only when one of them has been unavailable.

Vermaelen’s current position has been in place for quite a long time. It started after the defender was being linked with a move to Barcelona. He was a £ 10 million signing for Arsenal a few years ago. Given the current partnership between Mertesacker and Koscielny, it looks highly unlikely that the 27-year-old will be able to get back into the first-team reckoning for next season. Hence, Arsenal are likely to sell him rather than keep unhappy players at the club. Ahead of the FA Cup final this weekend, Wenger has refused to rule out Vermaelen committing to a new contract and staying at the club.
Wenger’s own future has been in doubt due to the contract still not being signed. The Frenchman, though, has repeatedly stated that he wants to stay at Arsenal.

“I do not even know if Thomas Vermalean is fit to be in the squad at the moment. I cannot speak about the transfers today. Normally I would say no because he is under contract. But,” said Wenger about the future of Vermaelen. Barcelona are in demand for defender after losing Carlos Puyol to retirement. Due to their failure to get their targets like Thiago Silva and David Luiz, they could turn their attention towards Vermaelen in the summer.