A steal at £8 million or a transfer risk for Arsenal?

Today’s latest Arsenal rumour involves Celtic’s wonderfully named Virgil van Dijk.

The Scotsman is reporting that Arsene Wenger had his trusted spies sent to Celtic’s recent clash with Dinamo Zagreb to get a closer look at the defender.

It isn’t surprising that Arsenal have been linked with the 23-year-old given our lack of options in the defensive third, especially at centre-back. Although, given that van Dijk was linked with fellow Premier League sides Sunderland and Southampton during the summer, is he really the calibre Arsenal should be targeting?

Virgil only joined the Scottish side in the summer of 2013 for a fee believed to be just over £2.5million. However, just over a year on, the former Groningen player has established himself as a key part of Celtic’s starting XI, making 60 starts.

The official Celtic website describes Virgil van Dijk as: “a tall and commanding centre-back, he is comfortable on the ball but also relishes the physical contest.” Those attributes are exactly what this back four needs and traits that are often lacking from our defenders.

Given that the Dutchman is only 23, he is of the perfect age to fill in as Arsenal’s third-choice centre-back, for a season at least. With Per Mertesacker having recently turned 30 and Laurent Koscielny getting close to the big 30, too, Arsenal will need some heirs to their thrones soonish.

A season or two under the tutelage of someone with Per’s experience and Koscielny’s abilities would leave Virgil in great stead to replace one of the duo not too far down the line – probably Per.

Long term, it would mean Chambers and van Dijk could form a partnership at the heart of the defence for in and around a decade.

Now and then, Scottish football does hold a gem but the stigmatism attached to that league prevents clubs taking a risk, so, maybe, just maybe, Wenger may well, yet again, be finding himself a bargain.