Per flight 3382 from Dusseldorf to London « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Walter Broeckx,

If you can believe the media in France and Germany Per Mertesacker has flown to London this morning. They even say the flightnumber he took. He has gone with the Lufthansa flight 3382 from Dusseldorf to London to sign a contract till june 2015 at Arsenal.

On Sunday he said when asked about a possible transfer to Arsenal : “One should never say never, even if it’s a cliché in football”.  So it was first thought that he said he would not go but now it looks as if he was just holding the door open.

Joachim Löw the manager of the German national team has been quoted in the German press :”Per has phoned me yesterday evening and told me about it. I have told him that I would give him a day off to take care of this offer.”

Werder Bremen player Marko Marin said that it would be a bitter blow for Werder if he leaves. He is our captain and has played so many games for us.

If he passes a fitness test today he will be one of our new players at Arsenal for 4 seasons.  In the German press they also name his wages and this would fit nicely in the top wages we pay at Arsenal. According to the media in Europe Arsenal would pay some 10M for the German defender.

Mertesacker is a giant German defender of 6ft6in or 1m98 meter. He is 26 years old and has played 75 games for Germany in his career. He scored only one goal in those games but that is not why they put him on the field in Germany.  In the Bundesliga he has played some 216 games and has scored 19 goals in those games. Well not why we would buy him but nice to know he can score every now and then.

Necause he is out there to defend and to give you an insight on his defending I will give you the statistics on his defending in the Bundesliga so far.

When it comes to winning duels he has a current rate of winning 85.92% and losing only 14.08%. Not bad I would say. He is very dominant in the air and I have seen statistics of games in which he won all his aerial battles.

For a central defender he also is a very clean defender. He gets more fouls than he makes fouls. And he also very rarely gets a yellow or a red card.

So he is known for winning a lot of defensive headers but also scores a few goals in attack. On average one goal in 11 games during his career so far. So we would have some extra threats on corners with him in the team.

He is a big name in football, experienced, strong defender. I think this would be a signing that should be appreciated by all Arsenal supporters.

I think that a defence with Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen and Santos/Gibbs will have all we need. It has 4 internationals for France, Germany, Belgium and Brazil/England. It has pace, it has height, it can attack from both flanks.  Bring them on I would say.