There have been positive noises recently about a reasonable deal being in process, but as yet nothing is finalised and Arsenal have not retracted.

So it does seem unlikely that we're about to sign Marko Rehmer.

On the other hand, he is a quality defender, and Arsene Wenger keeps saying how hard they are to find. In fact, there might be slightly more direct hints in what Wenger's been saying the last few days.

In an interesting twist on the old "british players aren't skilful enough" debate, the Arsenal boss has actually said that maybe some of them are becoming too skilful. With the new demands for players that can play with the ball, he says, there's a danger of losing the players whose first priority is to defend.

He cites Tony Adams and Martin Keown as prime examples, along of course with Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, and Stuart Pearce. His point is that if they'd been youngsters now, perhaps these players' qualities would not have been valued.

According to German sources, Marko Rehmer could exactly the kind of player Wenger is talking about.

ArseWeb reader James writes:

"Rehmer is an outstanding and intelligent player and at around 5 million pounds represents far better value than Nowotny would at almost three times the price.

Rehmer cost Hertha Berlin a club record 7.5 million Deutschmarks when they signed him from Hansa Rostock. His reputation has continued to grow since then. He is noted for incredible pace (think Des Walker at his peak) and his ability to concentrate as a man-marker is also outstanding. He prefers playing in a flat back four which has cost him international caps in the past as Germany usually go with a back three.

However, more recently Germany simply could not fail to pick him despite his being sometimes ill at ease in a back three. His recent performances have been outstanding and shown him to be more versatile than many thought.

While he doesn't have the brilliant ball-playing ability or attacking drive of a Nowotny, if Arsenal are looking for a world-class defender who is exclusively looking to defend rather than link up with midfield or attack, they won't find better value than Rehmer.

Rehmer also came over a very bad knee injury about a year ago and is probably looking to cash in now that he realises how vulnerable a playing career can be."

"An interesting long-shot might be for club colleague Sebastian Deisler to also follow Rehmer to Highbury. Deisler is still very young (around 20) and is considered the David Beckham of the Bundesliga with his tremendous crossing ability from the right and good positional sense.

Wenger told the German 'Kicker' magazine in an interview in June that Arsenal had been tracking Deisler for more than a year and that Deisler was "a good one for us in the future". Rumours have continued that Hertha won't be able to refuse a big offer in the Summer for Deisler, although the player has said that while he wants to test himself abroad at some point it still might be too early for him to move now. If the club want to sell though he may be forced to move on."