Wenger: I should have bought a defender

Manager Arsène Wenger admits that he would have bought a defender if he had known how serious defender Thomas Vermaelen's injury would be.

The 25-year-old initially picked up the injury while on international duty in September and the original prognosis was that he would be out for a few weeks.

However, the full extent of the injury was unclear and the cultured defender has ended up missing eight months of the campaign.

Wenger said: "I would have tried [to buy cover for Vermaelen]. He had a setback at the end of January but we hoped he would play the second part of the season.

"[But] football is not a supermarket where you go and say 'I want a good player, give me one please'.

"You must find them and in the middle of the season to find a player who strengthens Arsenal is not easy.

"We did not have Vermaelen for the whole season but, if you look at the numbers, we conceded less goals from open play than any other team in the league.

"So it is not all negative, even defensively."

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