Arthur Vermeeren shows why Arsenal should sign him in January
Royal Antwerp midfielder Arthur Vermeeren continued his fine season on Wednesday by scoring the opening goal in the 3-2 win over Barcelona in the Champions League.
Antwerp lost the reverse fixture in Spain by a convincing 5-0 scoreline and it was anticipated that Barcelona would come on top again with another comfortable victory.
However, the Belgian champions defied the odds with a stunning win. Vermeeren played a pivotal part in the victory, scoring within 75 seconds at the Bosuilstadion.
Vermeeren featured in a central midfield role against the Blaugrana. He had a decent passing accuracy of 75 per cent but it was his decision-making which caught the eye.
The 18-year-old completed 100 per cent of his long balls (3/3) and 100 per cent of his dribbles (2/2). He also won four duels with nine ball recoveries. He has a huge future in front of him.
Vermeeren made three goal contributions in Antwerp’s first Champions League campaign in 56 years. He ended the group stage with the most involvements for a teenager this term.
Arsenal are known to be interested in Vermeeren and it was recently reported that the Gunners could make an opening bid of €15 million for the wonderkid in January.
However, Antwerp are looking for at least €25m with Napoli and Barcelona also keeping tabs. They are prepared to keep him until the summer if his asking price is not met.
In our view, the Gunners must swoop for the youngster at the start of the year. Vermeeren has immense potential and he can comfortable play in defensive midfield role too.
With Jorginho, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny in their 30s, the Gunners are likely to have a midfield overhaul soon. They need to be pro-active and sign Vermeeren this winter.
Vermeeren could develop into an elite box-to-box midfielder. Aside from his goal contributions, he averaged 3.2 tackles and 6.7 recoveries in the group stage campaign.
Stats from Sofascore.com
