Arsenal Eye Olympiacos Defender Kostas Manolas as Thomas Vermaelen Replacement

Arsene Wenger has reportedly turned his attention towards Olympiacos defender Kostas Manolas as a replacement for Thomas Vermaelen.

According to the Express, the Gunners boss is keen on luring the Greek defender to the Emirates as he searches for a top-quality replacement for the Belgian, who joined Barcelona recently.

Arsenal, who won the Community Shield on Sunday by beating Premier League champions Manchester City, are light at the back with Calum Chambers being the only quality replacement in case of an injury to Laurent Koscielny or Per Mertesacker, the current first-choice pairing.

Manolas, has been in impressive form for the Greek champions and has Champions League experience as well. He has been linked with a move away throughout the summer transfer window, and the Serie A was touted as his most possible destination with AS Roma, Juventus and Napoli interested in acquiring his services.

The 23-year-old defender was linked with a move to the Premier League last summer with Tottenham and Sunderland interested. Even before that, a move to Everton was close to being agreed but the player's reluctance to come to England scuppered the deal.

Meanwhile, Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud believes that the new signing, Alexis Sanchez, will be a hit in the Premier League and is confident of striking a good partnership with the Chilean.

"I've played with him in training. We have a good understanding - like Mesut [Ozil] when he signed for Arsenal. It's always easy to play with these kind of players. I think he will maybe need some more games to adapt his game to the Premier League but that's normal and he's a fantastic player so I think he will [have] a great season," Giroud said, as quoted on Arsenal's official site.