Would Sol Campbell help Arsenal's defence?

Eighteen months ago, the Arsenal fans clamoured for an experienced central defender to shore up a weak backline. William Gallas had enjoyed a good couple of seasons, Kolo Toure was keeping his place in the team despite a dip in form, and then... well, then there was Alex Song and Johan Djourou, both 21 and each boasting about as much experience of the Premiership as the rapidly waning Andriy Shevchenko.

On several occasions during the 07-08 campaign, we had resorted to using Gilberto Silva - who had by then been ousted from defensive midfield, by a successor who would then spurn the opportunity to fulfill his world-class potential when given the chance to warm benches around Italy - as a centre-back. But Gilberto was gone, and next out the door would be 22-year-old Philippe Senderos, who some Milan scout game for a laugh had decided would be ideal to fill in during Alessandro Nesta's 'Ledley King year'.

Clearly, we had to act. One injury to either Gallas or Toure and we would have to throw a relatively untried youngster to the wolves. We needed someone with experience who could compete for a place in the starting XI, but who would recognise that he was arriving as a back-up - never an easy task. Wenger worked throughout the summer to secure the all-important 3rd choice centre-back, a player who might eventually feature as often, if not more, than one of the two regular starters.

Throughout August, we Gooners would refresh the news tickers long into the night, grimacing at the sight of relegation fodder like West Brom delving into the murky depths of washed-up top four rejects, or picking out random players from obscure countries for roughly the cost of a supermarket brand ready-made sandwich. Rumours flew around the internet, and through bleary, bloodshot eyes, fingers convulsing wildly over the mouse as coffee after coffee saturated our veins, we scanned reams of big names in the hope that Arsene would pull off a late transfer coup.

And so, a couple of weeks into the season, we were presented with the image of a hunched Mikael Silvestre sitting in some sort of late-night transfer-window shed.

He had a decent start to life as an Arsenal player, deputising well enough in his first few games. There were signs of trouble ahead in the 4-4 draw with Tottenham, with Silvestre one of the players to come under fire for throwing away a two-goal cushion. He redeemed himself with a solid performance at home to Manchester United and some good displays during Arsenal's unbeaten run in the league, but his form deteriorated considerably towards the end of the season, with a notable low point (for him) being the 4-4 draw at Anfield, when he was partly responsible for the last couple of Liverpool goals.

Whoever called him 'geriatric' at the much-hyped shareholders' meeting last summer certainly wasn't being fair on him, and he was still seen as a decent enough back-up. This season he has played a very minor role, due to the fitness and exceptional form of Gallas and Vermaelen over the last few months, but he hasn't impressed me since the Carling Cup game against Liverpool. His pace isn't the same and he doesn't close down forwards as often as he should, and he is sometimes guilty of collapsing our offside trap. However, at the moment, I'm willing to accept that he cost us less than a million and he clearly isn't a first-choice player, and I will tolerate him being a back-up until the end of this season - provided that Senderos gets his chance ahead of the Frenchman should anything happen to either of the two regular starters.

With Senderos back, hopefully having paid attention to some of the best defensive coaches in the world during his time in Italy, and Alex Song performing well when called upon at the back, our options don't seem dreadful. But that largely comes down to the fact that, so far, our backline has generally avoided the Curse of van Persie, and the back-ups haven't had any opportunities to mess things up. We've conceded more goals than we should have, but I would put that down to our current habit of throwing the entire defence forward and training our goalkeepers to leap around the area when defending set-pieces.

Some seem to have ruled out Senderos as a viable option, or forgotten his existence altogether. However, most fans forget that in all of his performances in an Arsenal shirt (barring his two Carling Cup outings this season, which went well enough) he was 22 or younger. He was on good form in 07-08, playing a massive role as we kept a series of clean sheets in the Premiership and shut out Milan in the Champions League; and after more than eighteen months since his last proper run in the side, we shouldn't be assuming that he can't make it at Arsenal. When he signed for the club as an 18-year-old, Arsene Wenger compared him to Tony Adams, and if a manager recognised as one of the best finders of young talent in football gives him that kind of praise, I still have high hopes for him.

Where Sol Campbell would fit into our squad beats me. He had lost a considerable amount of pace by the time he left Arsenal, and though what used to be one of the best defensive minds in the country must still be largely intact, at 35 his fitness won't be at the kind of level needed at a top four club. If we were going through a defensive crisis, moving for him might be understandable, but we have four healthy centre-backs and one more scheduled to return from injury in a couple of months.

We certainly won't be bringing in any big names at centre-back any time soon, and some fans seem willing to accept Sol Campbell as a suitably cheap option. But personally, I don't think he would give us enough to justify bumping down the others in his position, and if signing him meant selling Senderos, I would rather we didn't.

Sol battles it out with Senderos