Gunners remedy desperate need for a new goalkeeper and centre-back with… a teenage winger!

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How long have Arsenal fans been crying out for the same thing? For the last two or three seasons, regular Emirates-goers have been waiting for the arrival of a big, physical centre-half and a reliable goalkeeper. And for the last two or three seasons, they’ve been disappointed.

This season, the Gunners have been linked to a string of rugged English defenders, with Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Chris Samba and Scott Dann taking turns in the tabloids as Wenger’s latest target. Today finally saw rumour become reality, with the revelation that a player had arrived at the Emirates for a medical.

So which of that famous four did Wenger eventually plump for? Well, none of them as it turned out, because the player in question was actually a 17-year-old winger dubbed “the new Theo Walcott”. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may turn out to be a great acquisition in a few years time, but surely this is the last area Wenger should be focusing on given the current make-up of his side?

Including Walcott, Arsenal currently have no less than seven first-team players competing for two wide-forward berths in the form of Ryo Miyaichi, Gervinho, Andrey Arshavin, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky and Carlos Vela. However, at centre-back, they are just two injuries away from fielding the woeful Sebastien Squillaci.

Wenger may well go on to sign one of the aforementioned centre-halves, but you can’t help feeling he won’t want to stump up the amount required to prize any of them away from their current employers.

And with a raft of injuries already likely to deprive Arsenal of Vermaelen, Wilshire, Gibbs and Fabregas for the opening fixture at Newcastle, he might already have left it too late.