Arsenal legend Ray Parlour believes it is urgent for the club to buy players in the January transfer window after two more players were added to the club’s injured list.
Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta both went out injured in the defeat against West Brom on Saturday, adding to Arsene Wenger’s injury woes.
Many Gunners feature now on the team’s injury list. A total of seven first-team players are not available, with Coquelin expected to be out for at least two months with knee ligament damage and Arteta joining the likes of Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott on the sidelines.
And Parlour insists his former side cannot continue their season without signing players mid-year after their injury issues were intensified at the weekend.
They’re really short now.
The injury list is unbelievable; I think they’ll have to build an extension on the medical room!
According to Parlour, Coquelin’s injury is a major blow for Arsenal since he is a valuable asset for them.
As soon as Coquelin went down you could tell it was a bad injury. I think he’ll be out for around eight weeks, and that is really bad news for Arsenal, because who else can come in now?
He also discussed how bad Arteta’s performance was on Saturday.
Arteta came on and had a nightmare. He gave away the free-kick and then lost his man for West Brom’s first goal, then he scored an own goal and then he was obviously taken off after getting injured.
Parlour nominated Mathieu Flamini as the most probable replacement for Coquelin but yet urged Wenger to spend some money in January.
Flamini will probably be the one who steps in but I really think Arsene Wenger has to look at the transfer window.
The Arsenal legend concluded by saying that the January window is always a hard time to buy players and how the Gunners should focus on signing a midfielder.
It’s not an easy time to buy players; you don’t know who is really available and all the best players will be tied down to their clubs.
But if there are some available, especially in that midfield area, I’m sure Arsene will go in the market.
