Desperate for center-back reinforcements, Manchester United and Barcelona have turned their attention to Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen. According to Sky Sports, however, the 28-year-old has informed the club about his preferred destination, with Manchester United being the favorites to land his services.
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Barcelona reportedly issued a £10 million bid for the Belgian international. United have no qualms with matching or beating the Catalan club's offer.
On Thursday, manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the interest in his center-back. "Have we received bids? Yes," he said at a press conference (via ITV Sports). "I can't tell you who from, but you will know very soon. Are Man United one of the teams to have made an offer? I think they could be in the group."
"He could leave," Wenger added. "It could happen. I've said that since the start of preseason."
Vermaelen made just 14 league appearances with Arsenal last season, averaging the third-most defensive actions per match (seven). Per Mertesacker (11) and Laurent Koscielny (nine) averaged significantly more, prompting Wenger to openly admit Vermalen's need to play significant minutes elsewhere.
"He needs to play now. He has shown an outstanding attitude, but he is in a position where we wouldn't stand in his way if he finds an interesting opportunity. Ideally, yes, we would like to sell him abroad and that is an option for us. I don't want to say how many offers we have, but we have offers from abroad as well."
Whether abroad or in England, Vermaelen appears to have played his final minutes for the North London club.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via Squawka).
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