Winterburn praises Vermaelen impact
Written by Mark Brus on Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn has praised Thomas Vermaelen after his first season at the Emirates.
The Belgian centre-back arrived from Ajax as a relative unknown, but quickly established himself as a firm favourite with the Arsenal fans.
Vermaelen showed himself to be a solid replacement for Kolo Touré alongside William Gallas in central defence, and also showed an instinct for goals when going forward.
Winterburn believes Vermaelen has done well to become something of a cult hero with the Emirates crowd.
Speaking to Arsenal TV Online, he said: "Not only is he looking defensively quite strong, but also he comes up with important goals, and that's a recipe for being a bit of a hero so early in the season."
Vermaelen was Arsène Wenger's only major signing last summer, and Winterburn believes Arsenal did well to prove their doubters wrong after the sale of two key players to Manchester City.
He said: "A lot of people were saying before a ball had been kicked that Arsenal would be the team this season to finish outside the top four, but I saw it quite differently.
"Although Arsenal lost two key players in Adebayor and Touré, in pre-season games I saw a new togetherness about the squad that led me to believe they could challenge Chelsea and Manchester United."
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Not only is he looking defensively quite strong, but also he comes up with important goals
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