Arsenal’s chances of signing 26 year old West Ham centre back Winston Reid received a massive boost today, as Hammer’s boss Sam Allardyce admitted that the defender was hesitant to sign a new contract.
“There is no future for Winston Reid at West Ham at the moment as his contract finishes on the 30th of June. He hasn’t said he is or isn’t going to sign.” This must surely indicate that Reid’s future at the club is coming to an end, however Arsenal fans everywhere must be questioning whether he is the answer to their defensive woes.
On the surface, Reid appears to be a perfect solution for what Arsenal have been lacking at the back this season. With Per Mertesacker’s poor run of form following World Cup glory and Laurent Koscielny’s sporadic appearances due to injury, it’s no secret that the Gunners are rather desperate. The big centre half does possess a lot of the qualities necessary to place him high up Arsene Wenger’s wish list. He’s a big physical presence in the box, and solid at defending set pieces. Additionally, Reid possesses consistently excellent levels of concentration, and we all know just how important that is following Szczesny’s poor showing against Southampton mid week.
He seems to be everything that Wenger would need to silence some of those criticizing his lack of transfer window spending, and following his last 2 disappointing January signings (Nacho Monreal and Kim Kallstrom), Arsene should be keen to nip the tradition of lacklustre winter additions in the bud. With Reid’s price tag being tipped at around £10m, it would still give him sufficient funds to sign a solid defensive midfielder such as Christoph Kramer or William Carvalho, which would please the vast majority of Arsenal fans.
Winston Reid promises to be a very solid and competent bargain centre back, who can certainly bolster our defensive options. Is he going to be the rock at the back to finally solidify Arsenal’s defense? Only time will tell.
