Wenger Plans to Strengthen in January by Signing Marseille Defender – Report

Arsenal may be five points clear at the top of the Premier League table but it seems manager Arsene Wenger still feels his squad can be improved as he looks to try and win the race to sign Marseille centre-back Nicolas N'Koulou.

Wenger has long been an admirer of the Cameroon international, having followed his progress since his breakthrough season at Monaco back in 2008.

N'Koulou has since gone on to enjoy great success with Marseille and has been a regular in the side ever since joining in the summer of 2011. Last season he helped the side qualify for the Champions League and featured in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal back this September.

The Metro reports that Wenger has once again been impressed with his performances and asked chief French scout Gilles Grimandi to watch the defender in action as Marseille narrowly lost to Napoli earlier this week.

While Arsenal do have an impressive central partnership of Laurent Kosciielny and Per Mertesacker, N'Koulou is still of interest as he can also play as a defensive midfielder or at right-back.

With Bacary Sagna out of contract at the end of the season and question marks over whether Thomas Vermaelen is happy to remain at the club when he is not playing, N'Koulou could well provide the cover that Wenger is searching for.

However, it appears as though there will be plenty of competition for the signature of the 23-year-old, with Talksport reporting that Napoli and Monaco are also thinking of making an offer in January.

With Marseille already unable to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League N'Koulou may well decide that he is more likely to gain success away from the Stade Veledrome.

Should Napoli, Monaco and Arsenal all decide to bid then he will have a tough decision to make as all three sides have started the season in superb fashion and are hoping to challenge for major honours.