Wenger must remember Campbell was killer signing before Arsenal's 2nd generation success

After the Chelsea defeat, when Drogba roughed up the Arsenal centreback combination of Kolo Toure and William Gallas, I wrote on EFT that Arsenal's achilees heel in this developing third-generation squad is a power centre-back in the mould of a Sol Campbell/Tony Adams/Nemanja Vidic.

And watching Arsenal since throw away advantages in games against Man Utd and Liverpool in the last month and overall noting the lack of clean sheets the team is keeping when more-or-less dominating possession my belief is now very strong that Arsene Wenger's number one priority should be a champion centre-back.

In early July of 2001 I remember very well the day we bought Sol Campbell. I was delighted wwhen I heard of the signing - I rated Campbell really highly and instantly felt very confident that our defence would be super strong to give true solidity to a team that I knew could dominate play and score goals with a progressing midfield featuring Vieira, Ljungberg, Pires and a superb attack featuring Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu and Wiltord.

Arsenal won the double in Campbell's first season and after leading the league for the majority of the second season (only to fall away right at the end) then went the whole season unbeaten in Campbell's third season.

Of course it was not just down to Campbell that this success came to Wenger's second-generation Arsenal side - but I don't think it is a coincidence that winning trophies coincided with his arrival because his magnificent power and athleticism at the back was the foundation for the rest of the team to play their attacking football.

In this third-generation side, Arsenal have in Toure and Gallas what I call excellent 'second-in-command' centre-backs. In other words they are a great compliment to a dominating power centre-back like Campbell/Terry/Vidic but do not have the size, presence and power to be a champion force together.

With this concern in mind I'm really happy to hear the hints Arsene Wenger has made about his transfer plans for the summer. Last month he said that he would bring in one 'experienced' player of 'real, real quality' and that his concern is not the number of goals being scored but the number of goals being conceded.

And today comes the headline from the Independent that Wenger is after a powerful centre-back - just as I hoped and wrote about in the aftermath of the Chelsea defeat.

I'm now not only hoping but somewhat expecting Wenger to deliver to Arsenal fans another 'Sol Campbell moment' this summer: unveiling in the summer sun a proven, top quality power centre-back that will ensure that Arsenal's defence will concede around ten less league goals per season and in the process give Arsenal that killer edge that we have lacked this season.

Lets wait and see that this is the current Wenger thinking - and keep the trust in Arsene to get it right.