Having announced the signing of 30 year-old France international Sebastien Squillaci from Sevilla, it begs the question – Is Sebastien Squillaci what Arsenal need?

My first instincts tell me that at £4-6m, 21 international Caps and 30 years old, Squillaci is exactly the player that Arsenal have been crying out for. Having covered a lot of European football over the past few years, I have, on occasion, seen SS play and was fairly impressed. At 30, Squillaci would be the oldest defender in the squad and would most likely come in to partner Vermaelen in an Arsenal defence that, as it stands, is sorely lacking any experience at all. After reading up on the deal, Didier Zokora had this to say about his former Sevilla teammate: “He plays very simple but he wins every duel, he is a very strong defender.”

Now, from the people I have been able to speak to regarding Squillaci, they have all told me the same thing: He is a very physical defender who lacks pace but reads the game very well in order to outwit his opponent. Now if what these people (and Zokora) say is true, then we could have acquired a half-decent centre back here. On paper, his attributes would go perfectly with Vermaelen. Although Tommy V is not necessarily up there with Gallas and Toure in the pace department, he is certainly no slouch. Add to that the fact that he is a good reader of the game and very good in the air, Vermaelen makes the perfect partner for somebody of SS’s touted ability. In a defence that has always been targeted on set-plays and has often (very often) buckled under pressure at crucial times, somebody with a cool head and a bit of experience is exactly what we need!

Or is it?

For all the pros that I have mentioned with regards to Squillaci, there are, as always, some cons. The first of those is that he has no experience of the English Premier League and just how fast and physical it really is. For a player that has relied on his ability to read the game to get him out of trouble this could be a slight problem as there are times when a bit of pace is actually required and from what I have been able to determine, he doesn’t really have a lot. The second problem I can see is that we now have two new centre halves for this season, the other being Koscielny, and neither of them have had time to forge a partnership with Vermaelen. Can we really afford to keep messing around with the defence for the next month or so until Arsene decides who is Tommy’s partner? I’m not so sure.

So, either way we look at it there are positives and negatives surrounding the player. But let’s just hope he is finally the defender that will bring calm and order to a defence that so desperately craves it. (And let’s also pray to god that he’s not another Cygan!)