The need to sign a central midfielder has been a discussion between Arsenal fans for a while now.

We would have plenty of options with a fully fit squad but as these include Jack Wilshere (ankles made of glass), Abou Diaby (body made of poppadums), Tomas Rosicky (injury prone, ageing), Mikel Arteta (picking up injuries in the latter part of his career) and Aaron Ramsey (no stranger to a month long injury here and there) we’ve mainly relied on Mathieu Flamini, with the Ox dropping deep and more recently, Francis Coquelin.

With Rosicky, Arteta, Flamini and Diaby likely to leave within the next couple of seasons, surely we’ll be strengthening sooner rather than later and with numerous midfield targets being mentioned and Morgan Schneiderlin unlikely to happen until the summer, if at all, I feel a great place to start would be Moussa Sissoko

Sissoko has been linked with a move to Arsenal a handful of times already and has already issued a ‘come and get me’ please to the club.

The 25-year-old French international is just about to enter the prime of his career and expressed his desire to play Champions League football, especially at Arsenal.

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

He would add some of what is missing from our midfield at the moment. At 6ft 2” he’d add much needed height to our squad and with a good reading of the game, the ability to go forward and awareness to stay back – he’d be the physical presence and mobility we’ve been crying out for.

He joined Newcastle in the January window two years ago from Toulouse at the bargain price of around £1.8m but would command a much bigger fee to even tempt them into selling.

I believe this is something we should be pushing for and a bid of around £15 million should be enough. Newcastle under Mike Ashley are a selling club and one we should be looking to take advantage of.

Even though he’s done a solid job since being recalled from Charlton, especially against Man City, I don’t fancy us going into the second part of the season with Wenger relying on his Coq week in week out.

Sissoko could be one to keep an eye on and I wouldn’t rule out us going in for him up until the last moments of the transfer window.

sean (1)