There is mounting noise about the possibility that Arsenal would be willing to listen to offers for Bellerin. The club is supposedly OK to let Bellerin go for 35 Mln EUR.
At one point in his young and rich career, Bellerin was seen as the best young full back in the world and teams like Barcelona, Real, City and Juve were monitoring him but then Bellerin got injured and since then, he has been chasing his shadow to rediscover the form that made him one of the most potent RB in the EPL and in Europe.
Bellerin really struggled under Emery but seems to have found some form back under Arteta and he put in some good displays after the lockdown. He seems to have found better balance in terms of his defensive and attacking contributions since Arteta has come in. At 25, he is entering the most exciting part of his career where he is supposed to have reached his optimal form and level. The kid has been with us for nearly ten years and he is very attached to the club and he has been key to welcoming new players and supporting our young players when they join the first team. He is very well liked by the players and coaching staff and he is also a player that is engaged for important socio-economic causes such as environmental protection.
So should the club keep Bellerin knowing that AMN is looking to be extended and Soares has joined us? Or shall the club cash in on one of the longest serving player in our club? It is a tough choice to be honest.
How do you feel about it?
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
No brainer. He stays. Not only for all the reasons you give. He’s home grown. This element of squad building seems to have been conveniently forgotten by the ‘transfer whores’ (a description I read elsewhere and absolutely love). At the moment squads can only have up to seventeen non-home grown players, and can have any number of HG. But fewer than eight means that your squad must be less than 25. Moreover, the Sweet FA are planning to use Brexshit to increase the proportion of home grown.
So ditching Hector for some untried midfielder is a highly risky plan. Besides, having watched his beautiful passes unlocking Liverpool’s defence, why not try Saka there? They surely have to find room for him somewhere, and wing is becoming rather congested, especially once Martinelli’s fit again. And Saka, of course, is home grown too.
Thanks for the video Fred. Although it is very short, I think it shows how Bellerin is further developing under Arteta.
Sorry. By “there” I mean midfield. We know Saka can tackle, cover loads of ground, dribble, pass, ghost into the area, find the target, seems to have a good football brain. I think Partey and Aouar are seen as better simply because they’re not arsenal players.
Hector is going to be special this season – if the boo boys leave him alone.
One of the main reasons Arteta has succeeded is that he’s found some harmony within the squad. He’s finally got everyone singing off the same hymn sheet and he’s done this by making it very clear that attitude and effort are non-negotiable regardless of how big a player you are. I think he’s taken a similar attitude into the transfer market and I think that if he sees an opportunity to sacrifice a player to improve the overall quality of the squad then he will do so. Another thing that he’s done well is he’s created some assets for himself. He’s improved existing players and brought in some cheap alternatives which will now give him the opportunity to generate funds, and it’s not just Bellerin we should be looking at:-
Martinez & Leno – It came about due to injury, but Martinez’ form has been outstanding and for me he was the best GK in the PL at the end of the season along with Pope. Arteta can only play one at a time, so £20m for a sub seems like good money.
CB’s – Good business has been done with the signings of Gabriel and Mari along with last seasons purchase of Saliba, and Arteta has even managed to get some good performances from Mustafi meaning we suddenly have an abundance of spare CB’s. Sokratis will probably go for free and Holding seems to be heading out on loan, but we could easily sell Chamber or Mustafi and generate £10-£15m.
Bellerin – once again Arteta has worked wonders by turning a player who looked like leaving (AMN) into someone knocking on the door for a starting place. Add that to the cheap signing of Soares and suddenly Arteta has created a situation where he could potentially net £35m without damaging the RB quality. AMN’s showings at LWB and Saka’s great season also mean Kolasinac is up for grabs at £5-£10m.
Elneny/Torreira/Geundouzi – once again Arteta has produced a bit of magic with Elneny. His performance in the Community Shield was fantastic and it’s given Arteta real choices in midfield. Add to that the Geundouzi situation and once again we have the options in midfield to look at selling one or 2 of these lads. If Ceballos is brought back in (and we can grab Partey) then there is no reason we can’t get £30-£40m for some of the midfielders.
Mid-season I didn’t see a single Arsenal player that another team would want to buy, all of a sudden we have 4 or 5 that could generate useful funds. So to answer the post, I could see Bellerin leaving, but in a few days it could easily be someone else who actually walks out of the door to hopefully find another purchase. Arteta has options and depending on who he can bring in will probably dictate those that leave.
Maxwell
Forthright views from you as always! Excellent!
My question is do you believe firstly that Hector has ever had good “defensive” qualities( particularly essential IF Mikel goes back to four at the back)?
Secondly, has something (Emery, the “horseshoe”, lack of passes inside fullbacks from Mesut, or his injuries), drained the confidence from him to take on opposition on the outside and cross from near or on the byline?.( Was he ever, competent at crossing the ball?)
It’s interesting that fans don’t like too many signings, but it’s the game/business these days. 14 of Liverpool’s main first team squad were purchased since the 15/16 season and 9 of those were starting players. Only Henderson and TAA were not recent signings.
Arteta has created a good atmosphere and shown he can improve existing players, but now he needs to add what he feels we are missing. Klopp didn’t win a league by improving Klavan and Mignolet, and we won’t become competitive again by improving Mustafi , Kolasinac and Torreira.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53997887
Yea something the video didn’t show was how he set up saka to be free for the aubameyang goal
I agree Maxwell
I always off the opinion use what we and when you sure it can’t work get rid
As u said just cause aour and partey aren’t arsenal players they suddenly the best thing ever
Imagine people suggesting we sell lacazette just to fund partey, lacazette who was our player of the season last year
Thanks LBG. I think Hector was a curate’s egg of a defender until recently. He often made up for iffy positioning with his blistering pace. He is slowly rediscovering that speed post his injury. He is also improving as a defender, and especially so under Arteta. The penny appears to have dropped regarding his responsibilities as a full back/wing back. As with his defending, so with his crossing: I’ve seen him make telling crosses and dire ones. He is, however, sparkling at running at a defence on the edge of the box, and employing quick give-and-goes. I concede that Soares’ crossing is far superior. His performance against Liverpool makes me optimistic.
FGG, you choose in your comments completely to ignore the home grown issue.
20 mil for a sub, I don’t see it that I see it as we wouldn’t need to go out into the transfer market for a goalkeeper no time soon
Maxwell
I didnt choose myself to ignore your legitimate homegrown point. Haven’t worked it out myself but surely we still have enough in the main squad and U23s to satisfy that requirement?
If not, even more important to keep A M-N.
LGB. My query was directed at Fat Ginger, not you. The U23s have nothing to do with it. Only players named in the first team squad. An U23 player can be promoted as long as they’re named in the squad of 25. However one sorts it, it still means a maximum of 17 non-home grown –
Leno
Tierney
Soares
Kolašinac
Mustafi
Papastathopoulos
Mari
Luiz
Gabriel
Saliba (could be named in U23)
Xhaka
Willian
Torreira
Guendouzi
Ceballos?
Aubameyang
Lacazette
Pépé
Ozil
Martinelli (could be named in U23)
I’ve included Ceballos as he seems to be a done deal. Saliba and Martinelli are currently listed in the first team squad on the Arsenal website. There are twenty names. We know some of them are probably going, but even one out-one in leaves the squad heavy.
My original thought implicit in my first comment (‘no brainer’) is that it’s more important to keep home grown players if, as Fred points out, there’s no cogent reason for abandoning them.
Quite coincidentally, Tony Attwood on Untold Arsenal has just uploaded an article on the same subject of squad numbers. I’m fairly sure neither of us plagiarised!
Hi RC,
Another very good Post, thank you.
I have a little query — you said at the beginning of Para 3 “Bellerin really struggled under Bellerin” — was that a typo – or was Mrs Bellerin involved in some way? 😉
LBG pretty much summed up the situation with Bellerin.
When he first broke into the team he had blistering pace, and his dribbling enabled him to support the attack very well.
Unfortunately, the converse was also true, as he was a converted winger he had some difficulty with defensive positioning and tackling.
Injuries over the last few years have eaten into his pace and he now seems to rely more on passing the ball when closed down – often backwards – instead of running at, and past the defenders as he used to do.
Arteta has helped him in recent times, but the choice of who should go or stay, seems to be between him and AMN.
Let’s leave that decision to the manager.
I am not going to be dragged into the UEFA/Premier League Home Grown Rules again, as this was discussed to death many years ago on here, and eventually bored the asses off everyone.
Just for clarity, it may be worth mentioning that a HG player is not specific to any single club.
Any player between the ages of 15 and 21 who has been “locally” trained, for a minimum of 3 years, (within a national association – the FA in England and Wales, in the case of Premier League clubs) regardless of nationality, is considered to be Home Grown. As an example, Cesc Fabregas (Spanish/Catalan) was considered HG.
A player between the ages of 15 -21 years of age who is picked to play in the first team squad, does not need to be included in the HG quota, and can continue to play until he reaches 21 during the current season, and must be included in the squad quota.
The home grown quota (8) is a minimum, and in theory all 25 members of the squad could be home grown – unlikely tho that is.
There was a fabulous display of youthful promise on display recently, and many of them could be included in match day squads without any impact on the Home Grown/Non-Home grown quotas.
Neither of the UEFA or Premier League rules mention U23’s – don’t know where that comes from — it is age that dictates the HG rules not what team you play in, outside the premier League.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I meant under Emery…although he may also struggle under Ms. Bellerin, am not sure…
And as if by magic………..
I haven’t read all the comments but I ask myself the question: if Hector better than Soares — yes. Is Hector better at RB than AMN — yes. Then we should be keeping the best we have.
Hola.
I can’t see us being able to much improve on Bellerin. Not withstanding Maitland-Niles (if he is played in that position). The fees mentioned of 25 raising to 30 million, doesn’t sound too enticing either. Especially if we need to buy a replacement. This new bunch can’t be that much quicker at getting through deals than the last lot, can they? We already need a good few positions strengthening.
I’m sometimes still shocked at the callousness in football. It goes both ways. Not just player power. But clubs disregarding the previously heralded club ties and loyalty of players is not a great fan experience in any way. We lost Ramsey for very little in my opinion. Losing Bellerin in much the same way would be shite to be honest. Seems like a great guy too boot. I’ve got a lot of time for that. Hopefully we keep him. His form was good after the restart. No doubt there’s something amiss, what with the substitutions, but I have faith.
and there are probably hard Brexit issues impacting player transfers to consider. In Arteta we trust
Hi VP.. Ah ha, you’re back! Hope all is well down under 🙂
I would keep Bellerin. I’m not sure Soares is up to the job, just a money laundering exercise for Kia & Raul.
Hextor has always been better going forward than defending, but that is how full backs play these days.
I’m glad there has been a re-think on AMN. As I mentioned months ago he has pace and power. Arteta can work on his decision making. I can see him becoming defensive midfielder when we switch to a back 4.
You heard it here first. x
PTT – seems you are echoing the views of many about Soares but let us see if he is a useful player this year. A starter? Not sure either…
As for AMN, there is indeed a chance to see him flourish this year and I hope it is with us at AFC!
@all – new post