Viviano loan deal was a 'no-brainer', says Wenger

The Italy international kept 11 clean sheets on loan with Fiorentina last season and the Arsenal boss believes the club have recruited a player "at the top of his game"

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has labelled the season-long loan signing of goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano as a "no-brainer".

The 27-year-old joined the Gunners in a deadline-day switch from relegated Palermo having enjoyed a loan spell the preceding season with Serie A side Fiorentina - keeping 11 clean sheets in the process.

Wenger is delighted to have signed the Italian, who he believes is playing at his peak, and revealed that the club were desperate to bring in a third goalkeeper as cover and competition for Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski.

"He comes to the club at the top of his game. It was a very good deal for us at a good moment, I think it was a no-brainer as well," the 63-year-old told Arsenal Player.

"With two goalkeepers available for the Premier League and all the competitions we face, we felt we were a bit short because sometimes you have injuries and sometimes you need to rest one of the goalkeepers.

"At the moment, Wojciech is number one unless I decide otherwise. They are all competing for the place of the number one. At the moment, one and two are Wojciech and Fabianski. After, maybe I will rotate.

"Viviano is a highly-rated goalkeeper in Italy so we have three goalkeepers that are very compact quality-wise."