Arsenal Set to Spend £20m to Sign Much Needed Centre Back

Emirates boss to spend big on Bolton man.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been tipped to get his chequebook out and sign Bolton defender Gary Cahill this summer.

Bookmaker William Hill have made the Gunners favourites to snap up the England international @ 2.50. Arsenal have been frequently linked with the 25-year-old, who made his first England start against Ghana in midweek.

The former Aston Villa stopper has excelled since moving to Bolton Wanderers in 2008, clocking up over 100 appearances for the club. He was linked with a big money move to the Emirates in January and has also attracted the interest of Bayern Munich.

Ray Parlour has urged his former boss to sign the highly-rated Cahill, telling talkSPORT, “I’d love to see Gary Cahill at Arsenal, he’d be brilliant for the centre-half role.”

SOURCE: Goal.com

There will of course be those who believe that Arsene Wenger would never shell out a fee of £20m, let alone for a centre back, but one should take into account the pressure the Arsenal boss is under to spend some money, pressure that will increase significantly if the North London side fail to claim the Premier League title this season.

Bolton will not sell their prized asset for less than £20m and it seems that both Tottenham and Man United may be willing to pay the fee but this source, and William Hill, believe that such a move is on the cards and given the failures experienced by Arsenal’s defence this season, perhaps it’s a deal that needs to happen.

Even before this season began Wenger admitted he would have liked to have brought in another centre back and failed in a move to bring Everton centre back Phil Jagielka to the Emirates. The Gunners lost experienced campaigners William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Mikel Silvetre and in turn brought in Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci.

Thomas Vermaelen then got himself injured and has been sorely misses and both Squillaci and to a lesser extent Koscielny, have looked out of their depth, slow and cumbersome. Thankfully Johan Djourou has risen to the task but Arsenal could definitely do with another defensive option and Gary Cahill has been a hugely consistent performer over the past two seasons.

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