Possibly the busiest club according to the media ever since the season ended, Arsenal aren’t just looking for goals and creative quality in their next player. Arsene Wenger needs to toughen up his team with a certain type of players, and it seems that West Ham’s Winston Reid has caught his eye.

Reid was voted as the Hammer of the year by West Ham fans for his impressive season in 2012-2013, his first full Premier League campaign. The New Zealand captain grew up in Denmark and played for FC Midtjylland before arriving in England in 2010, playing only a few times as West Ham were relegated under Avram Grant. He became an important part of their promotion campaign last season, and his ability at both centre back and right back when necessary has been influential as West Ham finished 10th on their comeback season in the top flight.

Reid, 24, is already the captain of the All Whites, played 36 times for West Ham last season, considered to be the best part of a strong, physical and aggressive team Sam Allardyce built at Upton Park, similar to his previous teams in the Premier League. He’s valued at £5-6 million, but with his contract still two years from expiring, Arsenal might be forced to pay a little bit more in order to acquire his services. He arrived for far less from Denmark three years ago.

Surveying the current Arsenal lineup, Reid has a pretty good shot at winning a starting spot. Laurent Koscielny has been their best performer this season in the defense, especially during the latter part of the season, and his partnership with Per Mertesacker was quite important as Arsenal made a final push that got them in to the Champions League.

However, both players aren’t made of the sternest steel, and Reid (1.91) might give Wenger something he hasn’t had in quite some time – a real bad boy leading his defense.