Belgium has struggled to win a starting place at the Emirates of late.
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West Ham United head coach Sam Allardyce has revealed that the struggling east London outfit would like to sign out-of-favour Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen in the January transfer window, according to reports in the Metro.
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The highly rated Belgium international has largely found himself surplus to requirements so far in north London this season, with the centre back being in the unusual position of spending more time warming the substitutes’ bench than on the field of play for the Premier League leaders.
And that is because Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger has preferred to go with Per Mertesacker or Laurent Koscielny as his preferred central defensive partnership instead in the capital, all of which has given the Hammers boss belief that he may be able to lure the player to Upton Park this month.
“I think under the circumstances at Arsenal, in the position that they’re in, in the Champions League and cup matches, they’ve had to use him as soon as any of the two defenders have been injured,” said Allardyce.
“So I don’t think there’s any chance we’ll get somebody of his quality. It would be nice if I we could.
“I’ve had targets and I haven’t got one yet apart from Roger Johnson, so I’ll keep going and hope we get some.”