Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal have not targeted a centre-half in January yet as manager says it is 'not a supermarket where you go in and buy a defender'

• e-mail

Arsenal's defensive crisis has become such an issue that the priority is to bring in a centre-half this January, where previously Arsene Wenger had been focusing on a defensive midfielder.

Both positions need filling, with the injuries to Mikel Arteta and right-back and occasional centre-half Mathieu Debuchy only exacerbating weaknesses, rather than prompting this week’s enquiries. But now Wenger has to weigh up the likelihood of securing Schalke’s Benedikt Howedes or Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk this month.

Howedes, who would be priced at about £15million, seems a long shot for a move in the next two weeks. Schalke have a Champions League tie against Real Madrid next month and, as captain, he is a key figure at the club. If he were to leave, the summer would be more logical.

Schalke’s Benedikt Howedes (right) has been valued at about £15million and is a possible target for Arsenal

Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk is another target for Arsenal and would be easier to get than Schalke's Howedes

Winston Reid's contract is up at West Ham and the defender is being offered to Arsenal

Arsene Wenger is in the market to buy a defender and defensive midfielder in the January transfer window

Van Dijk would be easier to prise from Celtic but Wenger has to decide whether he truly wants the Celtic defender. 

Likewise Winston Reid, whose contract is up at West Ham and is being offered to Arsenal. Yet Arsenal have yet to finalise their target, and are unlikely to do so until next week.

Wenger, whose side face Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday, says he is frustrated by the inaction. ‘We are a big attraction, but if it was easy we would do it. We haven’t found anyone. 

'I am not the only one working on the case. It’s not a supermarket where you go in and buy a defender, it’s a market that is very restricted. 

'Players who can strengthen the best 10 teams in Europe, you don’t find many and it’s the same for everybody.

‘Of course we have made enquiries and then you have a second handicap of who wants to sell their best players, especially a central defender, in the middle of the season. They say, “OK, come back in June or July and maybe yes”.’

Wenger insists they could cope without a signing. ‘We can, because we have Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Monreal, who can play centre-back,’ he said. 

‘But we have now lost Debuchy, who could play centre-back, and Gibbs has been out. If we have another injury or two we will struggle. It’s risky. It’s too risky.’

Wenger is now paying the price for the gamble he made at the beginning of the season. When the club sold Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona in August, the club calculated that they had barely used the third-choice centre-half in the squad in recent years. 

Arsene Wenger currently has the use of centre-backs Laurent Koscielny (pictured) and Per Mertesacker

Wenger insists they could cope without a signing because they have Mertesacker (centre) and Co

Arsenal have Calum Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Nacho Monreal (left) as defenders

With 19-year-old Calum Chambers quickly identified as a possible back-up at centre-half, Wenger reasoned that he could survive the season with the current squad. 

Almost immediately that proved a misjudgment. Debuchy sustained a long-term ankle injury in September followed by Koscielny’s achilles tendinitis in October, so Chambers was called upon at right-back and Nacho Monreal had to take over in central defence.

Ironically Bacary Sagna, who left on a free transfer in the summer and who often played as a stand-in centre-half, is so far down the pecking order at Sunday’s opponents Manchester City that he may be dropped from the Champions League squad to make room for new £28m signing Wilfried Bony.

Arsenal sold Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona in August but could now do with the defensive cover

Bacary Sagna (centre) left on a free transfer in the summer for Manchester City but is not favoured

Arsenal also desperately need a defensive midfielder. Target Christoph Kramer is not available, having signed a new deal that will take him back to Bayer Leverkusen next season. 

But Ilkay Gundogan, a player they have craved in that role for two years now, appears to have recovered from injury and has been playing regularly for Borussia Dortmund.

In addition, Dortmund are finally coming round to the idea of selling — his contract runs out in 2016 and the club are pressuring him to renew or leave. 

They would want £20m now — and with Dortmund threatened by relegation they would prefer him to go in the summer.

Borussia Dortmund are finally coming round to the idea of selling the previously injured Ilkay Gundogan

Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp previously blocked Gundogan's move to Real Madrid

Arsenal’s apparent lack of strategy over the defence extends to the goalkeeping position. 

David Ospina should keep his place after last week’s clean sheet with Wojciech Szczesny, now 25, proving both in his mistakes against Southampton and his subsequent reaction — puffing on a cigarette in the changing rooms — that he has been slow to embrace maturity.

Wenger has likened dropping Szczesny to the times he replaced Jens Lehmann with Manuel Almunia, a decision which infuriated the German. ‘Wojciech is a great keeper and will have a great career but he goes a little bit (at times),’ said Wenger. ‘I took Jens Lehmann out like that.’

Money is no longer a problem for Arsenal. They have cash reserves of around £60m, and though only around £20m is set aside for this January, big spending can be expected to resume in the summer.

The days of City simply taking their pick of Arsenal players ought to be over. Off the pitch Arsenal can now hold their own; the real test is whether they can do so on the pitch on Sunday.

Wojciech Szczesny has found himself on the sidelines since being caught smoking in the showers at St Mary's

David Ospina (pictured) should keep his place after last week’s clean sheet ahead of goalkeeper Szczesny