Bolton’s Gary Cahill and Blackburn’s Christopher Samba are two of the many central defenders that Arsenal have been linked with this summer. And Martin Lipton of the Daily Mirror feels that, of the two, Cahill is the better option for Arsenal because of his superior technique and because he is two years younger than Samba.
“Personally I’d go for Cahill, he’s got a lot more longevity about him,” Martin explains of the 25-year-old Bolton stopper. “I think he’s got more mobility. Samba’s probably more powerful, but I think Cahill is a better technical player and [Arsenal manager Arsène] Wenger needs technical players.
“Cahill is physical, he’s not afraid of putting his foot in. Tony Adams wasn’t scared of putting his foot in, nor Martin Keown, nor Steve Bould – players that he had in that first [Arsenal] team that he inherited.
“But he’s got [Laurent] Koscielny, who I think actually did quite well last season, to play the left side of the two [centre backs]. He’s still got [Thomas] Vermaelen, although I’m not convinced of Vermaelen defensively, he gets caught out of position a bit too much.
“But I do think that [Wenger] needs someone who can be there for four or five years, someone who can bed in, and I think Cahill would actually fit the bill better. And maybe you’d pay £3m-£4m more for him than Samba, [but] you get a better player for that.”