The £3.5m bargain that Arsenal can’t afford to miss:

I’m sure by this stage of the January transfer market, Arsenal fans will have hoped that their club would already have two-or-three new signings in the bag. As it is however, all they have is a lingering sense of disappointment that yet again, their club has come up short when it comes to ambition in the transfer market.

Arsene can’t be happy with his position in the Premier League. He can’t be happy that Bradford City booted them out of the League Cup and he can’t be happy to face a re-match against Swansea in the FA Cup. The fans certainly aren’t happy.

So why isn’t anybody doing anything about it?

As the inactivity continues, I’m sure the club’s top-brass will begin to feel a little more awkward about the song and dance the club made in regards to their new £150m commercial deal. Perhaps they should have kept stum?

I don’t claim to know better than Arsene Wenger. I can only judge on the basis of the performances I see on a weekly basis. But it strikes me that a good place to start, when it comes to new additions, is with the goalkeeping position.

Yes, I’m as big a fan of Wojciech Szczesny as the next person, but I can’t deny that he’s a rash, impetuous young talent. He will make mistakes and these mistakes will multiply once complacency sets in. Arsenal need to fight against this.

At the moment, Szczesny has no competition at Arsenal. Vito Mannone has proven this season that he’s an unremarkable keeper, who can’t really be relied upon in any meaningful way. Then there’s Lukas Fabianski, who is rather too error prone. Neither are capable of clawing away the number one jersey from Wojciech.

The Metro claim that Arsenal are in the market for Roma’s cut-price goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenberg. This strikes me as rather a good move. He’d cost just £3.5m, has bags of experience and could be just what the Gunners need to keep Szczesny motivated.

He’d be more than just a ‘Cup keeper’. He’d be pushing for a place in the first team and has the shot-stopping ability, positional awareness and command of his area necessary to make Szczesny really work for his place.

He’s fallen out of favour at Roma, which explains his bargain price-tag. Now, would be a great time to snap him up. Let’s just hope he’s not the only signing Arsenal make this January.

What’s your take? Should Arsenal snap up Maarten Stekelenberg?

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