Thomas Vermaelen! Ok so name another top quality centre half, in their prime, who will play for Arsenal next season. Yes, we have just one. We need a minimum of three supported by at least one, preferably two, who can ‘do a job’ when needed.

Let’s dispose of the three obvious non-contenders for next season:

(i) Mikael Silvestre is laughably described on Arsenal.com as ‘one of the most decorated footballers in Premier League history’. He’s 32 going on 82. He not only moves too slowly, he thinks too slowly and should never have been bought. End of contract, end of story, au revoir.

(ii) Philippe Senderos, yes he’s still one of us despite not having been around for a couple of seasons. He’s not currently in the squad and won’t be next season. Salut!

(iii) William Gallas has been top class and is still good enough but has never been a true Gooner and can’t last a full season. Not having signed a new contract he’s obviously looking elsewhere. We’ve had significant St Andrews size problems with his ego and lack of commitment before. We can’t risk a half-hearted defender at the heart of our defence. Adieu.

This leaves us with two possibles who may be able to do a job:

(i) Sol, enough said. He got Wenger out of jail this season totally by good luck rather than managerial judgement. Without him we’d have played Silvestre and ??? with TV, Gallas, Song and Djourou all injured. He may be able to play once a week at most next season but will be well past his prime at 36.

(ii) Johan Djourou, our other Swiss international, remember him? Is he the uncompromising, aggressive, assertive defender we need? After 12 months out and a not so grand career total of 38 league starts in five seasons, he can hardly be regarded as proven, top class or regular.

So Arsene - that’s our problem, what’s your plan?