Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that he will be taking a huge gamble if he fails to land a new defender before the close of this month's transfer window.
The Gunners have been depleted at the back for large parts of the season, with Laurent Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs and Nacho Monreal all spending time on the sidelines.
Mathieu Debuchy was the latest player to add to the Frenchman's defensive woes after undergoing an operation on his shoulder earlier this week to see him ruled out of action for three months.
Wenger was criticised in the summer for failing to land a new centre-back, and he is aware that doing so once more could cost his side's top-four hopes.
"It's risky. It's too risky," he told the club's official website. "If we have another injury or two we will struggle.
"We can, because we have [Calum] Chambers, [Per] Mertesacker, Koscielny. But we have now lost Debuchy, who could play centre-back, Monreal, who can play centre-back, Gibbs as well has been out.
"Of course we have made enquiries and then you have a second handicap of who wants to sell their best players, especially a central defender, in the middle of the season. They say: 'OK, come back in June or July and maybe yes.'"
Arsenal have been strongly linked with a £3m move for West Ham United's Winston Reid, while Mats Hummels of Borussia Dortmund is said to be a long-term target for the North London outfit.
