5 players Arsenal should have targeted in January

#4 Kostas Manolas

The Roma centre-back would make vast improvements to Arsenal's current back four

With Arsenal’s defensive issues remaining quite clear, they desperately needed and should have brought in a central defender in the January transfer window. There were rumours of the club being interested in both David Luiz and Jonny Evans, but Kostas Manolas could have been a great investment for the future for Arsenal at the back.

Both Luiz and Evans are 30, whilst Manolas is still just 26-years-old. The Greek defender has offered such solidity at the back for Roma and would have been a great addition to Arsenal.

The Gunners supposedly ‘failed with a late bid’ but they should have targeted the centre-back earlier in the window and got the deal over the line.

He is a defender who throws everything on the line when defending for the team, and gives 100% everytime he steps on the pitch. Currently, Arsenal’s back two of Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi are visibly struggling for cohesion.

Although Mustafi is a great defender at times, he seems to struggle playing in Arsenal’s system, mainly because of the team’s high line. The German often gets caught out and just doesn’t have the pace to recover from a mistake, something Manolas does have.

Therefore, if Manolas was to have come in, Arsenal could have seen a huge improvement, but it just wasn’t to be. However, they should try and sign the centre-back again in the summer instead of moving for either of Evans or Luiz again.