German paper says Arsenal duo are Bayern targets

Bild is reporting that new-ish Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola is set to go shopping for centre backs, and that high on his list are two Arsenal players Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen

In fact Bild names five players who might be wanted to stiffen up Bayern’s defence – the other three are Shakhtar Donetsk’s Ukraine international Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Jeremy Mathieu of Valencia and former FC Barcelona star Eric Abidal. Bild thinks that Bayern needs the cover as central defender Holger Badstuber expected to be out until March 2014 after rupturing his cruciate knee ligament.

So is this good or bad news for Arsenal? Well a bit of both. Koscielny has hinted that he would seek a move if things didn’t improve in north London, but it doesn’t seem as if he will go this summer. Vermaelen is a different matter. The Arsenal captain seems to be seen as surplus to requirements at The Emirates and a new challenge might suit both clubs and the player. His fee could also help fund a move for Swansea’s Ashley Williams.

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out.

Wilfried Bony – Arsenal’s next target? The pros and cons

So it looks as if Arsenal won’t manage to sign either of the marquee strikers that they have allegedly been chasing for a while. Instead they have both bizarrely chosen to sign for the same club where at least one of them will end up warming the bench to accommodate Fernando Llorente. Bonkers eh?

Which then ushers in the next question – who will Arsenal sign to lead the line this year. David Villa is available, but at 31 and with injury issues, he isn’t a long term option. Then there’s Wayne Rooney who may yet prove to be marquee signing that Gunners fans have been dreaming about since that wad of cash hit the Arsenal bank account.

And there are also suggestions that Arsenal are very keen on Swansea sensation Michu.

But one striker who might be worth a serious punt is Wilfried Bony of Vitesse Arnhem.

The player, who finished as top striker in the Dutch league last year, has already given a come and get me plea to Premiership clubs.

“To play in the Premier League, one of the best leagues in the world, is a unique opportunity”, he told Dutch daily De Telegraaf.

“When the opportunity arises, I will fight to go. I am very unhappy with Vitesse.

“They have made promises that they have not kept.”

So what are the pros and cons of landing the player

1 He would be cheap – There would be no £30 million outlay to land the player he could go for as little as £10 million. Much depends on who else bids for him. Chelsea and Liverpool are reported to be interested and he would be an obvious replacement if Suarez quits.

2 He knows where the sticks are – Bony has scored 31 times in 30 games this season. That’s an astonishing record.

3 He is exactly what Arsenal needs – The Gunners created so many chances last season via the trickery of Cazorla and the pace of Walcott, yet quite often there was no one in the middle of the park to finish the job off. Bony has excellent positional play. He knows how to sniff out a goal. He is clinical too so with excellent service from the team he could well score a lot of goals for Arsenal.

4 He is still pretty young – He is 24. The sell-on fee might just be a little more than it is for David Villa then.

5 He has some interesting moves - Those goal celebrations are top drawer

And the cons

1 Those 30 goals were scored in one of Europe’s weaker leagues – There are no guarantees he would do the same in the Premiership against higher quality defenders.

2 He doesn’t sound like the most loyal of characters – He has spoken out a couple of times against the Vitesse management. That talk might sound alarm klaxons at Premier league clubs.

3 He’s Ivorian – Not a negative per se, but it means he’ll be off to the Cup Of Nations, which is never good a for a club trying to put a run together in late winter.