But Wenger’s defensive headaches do not stop with finding a new commanding centre back, as Saturday’s horror show at the back against Villa also served to further expose the continuing frailties surrounding current No 1 Wojciech Szczesny, with the young Poland international’s display between the sticks having finally now convinced the Arsenal manager of the urgent need to bring in a new experienced shot stopper before the cut-off date of Sept 2.
Wenger has, of course, been scoring the European transfer market looking for such a goalkeeper since the end of last season, when Szczesny had been dropped by his boss due to what was termed “mental fatigue”.
However, despite attempts to sign the likes of Liverpool keeper Jose Manuel Reina, coveted Sporting Lisbon shot-stopper Rui Patricio and promising Hamburg No 1 Rene Adler, so far the Gunners have been unable to seal a deal for any of those three goalkeepers, meaning Wenger has now decided to switch his focus back to QPR’s Cesar.
The highly experienced Brazil international was actually one of the names that Wenger had considered earlier on this summer, only for the 33-year-old to appear destined to leave Loftus Road to move to Serie A high-flyers Napoli, only for that deal to fall through at the very last minute when the Italians’ new manager Rafa Benitez opted to sign Reina instead.
And now with Cesar, caped 74 times by the five-time world champions in a glittering 10-year international career to date, having been made available to buy by the cash-strapped west Londoners for as little as £3m, as they seek to offload as many high earners from their wage bill as possible following their relegation to the Championship, the Gunners are set to finally bring an end to their long-running search for a new No 1.