Arsenal: All the centerback we need is already at the club

Arsenal are reportedly not going to sign up a new centerback this January, and that’s just fine. We have everything we need at the club already.

David Ornstein has come out and delivered what some Arsenal fans find to be disturbing news—that no new centerback is likely to arrive in January. There were links to Dayot Upamecano going back a couple of windows and people got their hopes up, but barring something drastic, it’s just not meant to be. At least not yet.

And that’s perfectly fine. It isn’t for want of more personnel that the defense is struggling. The defense is struggling because Unai Emery is having trouble identifying what his best defensive set-up is.

Think about what we already have. I know I’m harsh on David Luiz, but he’s reliable. We know what we will get from him and he’s an organizer. All rather important.

I’m even harsher on Sokratis, but he is a perfectly serviceable presence on the defense who is good in a pinch, or for midweek competitions. Starting in the Premier League? Not so much. But I don’t suspect he will be anymore.

Don’t forget about Shkodran Mustafi either who, again, has proven capable in midweek competitions and even if that’s the best he can do, it’s a nice back-up to have.

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That’s not even the most exciting part though. Calum Chambers has really clicked into his role at the club, despite what all the haters say. His versatility crippled his return to the center of defense, but one has to think that as Emery digs for his best defense, he will have no choice but to turn back to Chambers, who has proven to be arguably the most capable defender of them all.

Rob Holding is supposed to be then centerpiece of this defense. He’s just had trouble staying consistent. As we saw last year, though, that reliability is there, we just have to find it in him again.

That’s already two capable young starters, one leader and organizer who is also a capable starter, two back-ups, and that doesn’t even include the Konstantinos Mavropanos wild card, who could still amount to so much, even if he hasn’t yet.

Oh, and William Saliba? Yeah, he’s coming too.

Again, personnel isn’t the problem. If you’re of the opinion that none of these guys are worth it, I’d counter and say that if you want to guarantee that we can ditch Sokratis, Mustafi and Luiz in favor of someone like Upamecano, I’m all for it. But that’s not realistic.