Arsenal News: Clichy Loss Is Gibbs Gain, Says Wenger

Arsene Wenger has put his faith in rookie left back Kieran Gibbs and said that it is time for the English defender to step up in the wake of Gael Clichy’s departure. Clichy was sold to Manchester City earlier on in the week for a fee of 7 million pounds, but Wenger says that the club will not replace him externally.

Open door for Gibbs, says Wenger

Many Arsenal fans were hoping for the Gunners to dip into their transfer kitty and procure the services of disciplined defenders like Aly Cisshoko and Jose Enrique to fill the void left by Clichy’s move, but Wenger explained his reasoning behind the decision by saying that Gibbs would now get more chances to play.

Speaking to Arsenal Player, Wenger said-

“The reasoning is that Kieran Gibbs at some stage has to get a chance to play. And Gael had only one year to go.

“I rate Gael very highly but I rate highly as well Kieran Gibbs, and he is now at an age where he has to play. And that’s the main reason behind that, to give Gibbs a chance”.

Gibbs burst onto the Arsenal scene in 2008, but his development has stalled somewhat since because of niggles and injuries, not to mention occasional loss of form and concentration. Relying solely on the English U-21 international might be seen as folly by some Arsenal supporters, but Wenger doesn’t seem to be shifting from his Youth Plan anytime soon.

This may also just turn out to be a smokescreen so that Arsenal are not quoted inflated prices while looking for left backs however, and Wenger is certainly wily enough to pull this trick off. Stay tuned to see if this is misguided faith in Gibbs or a clever ruse by the Arsenal manager.