Mirror Football

Sky Sports | Football

Arsenal News

Football Results

Barclays Premier League News

Arsenal News-Wire

Arseblog - "It"s fuckin" excellent"...an Arsenal blog.

Thierry Henry - Arsenal's Legend

Arsenal FC Blog

Arsenal Times News

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Is Kyle Bartley the forgotten man at Arsenal?

Even though there is a lot of talk about Arsenal needing to sign a new centre back over the summer in order to give themselves a chance of success next season, there seem to be a few people who have forgotten that Arsenal have got a rather handy centre back finding his way at the club fairly successfully in the form of Kyle Bartley.

With Bartley currently making a big impression at Rangers, where he has progressed from being a promising player to one who is now really regarded as a top player who has genuinely helped Rangers to secure a Scottish Premier League title against all the odds, Arsenal fans could be forgiven for looking forward to his return. Those placing football free bets will know the side needs to toughen up at the back.

Although the SPL cannot be described as anything like as technically challenging as the Premier League, it is a league that many Arsenal players might find challenging, purely because it presents individuals with a real physical battle. With Bartley showing he is no slouch and can stand up for himself when he needs to, and if he can take this skill and keep up with the increased pace and technical challenges that the Premier League brings (something that he surely must be able to do after his time training with the Gunners), then maybe, just maybe, he can prove that Arsenal don't need the likes of Gary Cahill to take them to the next level and instead, Wenger can actually successfully develop a centre back with some old school qualities at a football club that seems to shy away from embracing the darker arts of football to its own cost.

If this can manifest itself next season, then a Thomas Vermarlen and Kyle Bartley partnership could well be seen as being as physically competent as some of the other top partnerships in the Premier League.

No comments: