Would be the first sensible transfer Arsenal has made in defence in many years.
For reasons unknown Wenger forgot (maybe he's getting senile) part of what made his "Invincibles" team so invincible. It was that he had players that could be brutes if required. Keown, Campbell, Parlour, Vieira. These guys can give kicks as well as take a kick.
Wenger tried to build a Barcelona type of team which is fine if you have the biggest budget in the world but he didn't. For years poor Arsenal fans have had to watch as mid-table and lower teams get "stuck in" and overwhelm Arsenal through sheer physicality. You think Vieira would let the opposition get away with that ? I don't think so. When your entire team is soft the opposition can smell it. And yet Wenger would *whinge* for YEARS that his team was unlucky. When you're unlucky in the same circumstances for year after year you're not unlucky. If Wenger had 2 brutes in the back that don't take crap and one in the middle he would've got a lot closer to winning a league.
As to why Wenger couldn't see this who the hell knows. One of life's mysteries.