He is also not a bad defender and one of the things that Arsenal have been lacking in recent times is a player who can come in and dominate the defence and help the side take a step in the right direction instead of everyone focusing entirely on their problems.,

Arsenal boss, Arsene Wenger, said: “We watched him from that moment on. He was 21 and maybe he wanted to show he was committed. I liked him when he played against us, I remembered the name, put the name in my brain and kept it in there.”

“Let’s not dream, he won’t score 25 goals this season but has scored more already than I expected. He is, first of all, a defender. I would like clean sheets first but on set-pieces he looks strong and he can maybe get six or seven goals.”

“His leap makes up for his height. He’s taller than you expect him to be and has a very strong upper body. His leap is very sharp, he jumps very quickly and that is important on headers because if you analyse two players, the one who jumps quicker heads the ball first. We’ve not had someone of his type before. He is left-footed as well. That allows us to play [William] Gallas on the right side where he wants to play. It gives us a natural balance in our passing out from the back.”

Arsenal still look a fair way off the best sides in the division but the point is that they now have a player through which most of their energy can go. They have got the type of centre back that can defend to the death and then pop up with a few goals as well, this is a priceless commodity to any football side and something that adds to Vermaelen’s value.

For Arsenal to win a trophy this season then this player will have a large role to play in how it comes about. What remains to be seen is whether the defender can keep up the high performance levels as consistency is the only thing that Arsenal lack. If they get that back again then they will be a phenomenal side.