Hector Bellerin has reportedly signed a six year contract with the Arsenal worth over £100k a week. The 21 year old right back has been a revelation since breaking into the Arsenal first team at the start of the 2015/16 season.
Since the 2015/16 season, Bellerin has played in nearly every match for Arsenal and has racked up 9 assists. His two most memorable assists were in the comeback draw over Tottenham Hotspurs, where he set up Ramsey for the backheel goal and Alexis with the through ball.
Bellerin has also notched assists against Bayern Munich, Everton, and this season, one against Leicester and Chelsea. His game against Chelsea this season showed Bellerin at his very best, he created the first goal with his speed down the right and made a goal-saving tackle on Pedro at the end of the match. If you like techno you can watch his whole performance on this YouTube video.
The tackle and run for the Bayern goal was absolutely astonishing and is yet further proof that “Big Game” Bellerin shows his best in the big games.
His speed is almost unparalleled in the Premier League. In Mexico they might call him “Meteoro” which means both “shooting star” and was the Mexican name for the old children’s cartoon “Speed Racer”.
His speed allows him to play high up the pitch and still make recovery tackles like the one on Bafetimbi Gomis in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Swansea. The look on Gomis’ face is absolutely classic “what just happened?” Players often get that look on their face when Bellerin makes a recovery run and snuffs out a good chance.
But playing so high up the pitch also has its problems. Yes he provides a number of assists and he presses very well. He also makes spectacular tackles to win possession back. But his overall tackle percentage is a little low. Last season he made 72% of his tackles (was dribbled 28% of the time) but this season, possibly due to nagging injury, his tackling numbers and percentages are at a career low of just 1.3 per game and 58% success rate. He also tackles at a very poor rate in the Champions League over both last season and this; allowing himself to be dribbled 1.8 times per game in the Champions League last season or 42% of the time.
Still, it’s easy to see why Man City came after him this summer. He is a fantastic young player with all of the right physical attributes to make a great right back for years to come. His signing for Arsenal is a great piece of news in an otherwise rather dismal world.
Bellerin can only get better. If he can gain just that little bit of extra speed, perhaps he’ll be able to rip through time and set us on a path towards a non-dystopian future.
Though if that’s too much for him, I’d settle for a league and CL double this season. Meteoro rising.
100K?
That’s a stunning affirmation of faith, and of his worth.
But oh, how the market has moved in 2 short years.
Sameer, Son of 1Nil still screams around the house:”Ektorr Bearayeeen!” Though he’s toned it down because you know, his Mom tries to keep us in line.
He is just so,so good.
So who do we play as right back on the weekend?
Jenks on the right gives me the jitteries. We really need an Arsenal win this weekend to give 7am hope for the future.
Jenkinson will play. Debuchy is persona non grata, Holding is primarily a center back, and to those suggestions of moving Mustafi I just have to think WTF. He’ll do well or he won’t but he’s the backup. I’m more worried about how we get the midfield functioning again without Cazorla, who’s sounding as if he won’t be able to play. It’s becoming clear that his Achilles is potentially career ending or at the very least, going to limit his availability substantially. Wenger simply has to figure out a pairing that can provide the same kind of technical prowess, creativity, and ball winning capability as Coqzorla. I think it’s time to see if Xhaka really is worth 35M pounds.
Jenks. Not much choice.
Tim, I absolutely had to comment on the trump blog, but seeing as it’s closed, hope you don’t mind my aside:
The hippie rebel generation of the 60’s and 70’s are the very same grumpy old men voting for Trump now. Wonder if the youth of today would do the same and elect someone evil in their futures!
I’ve seen the Bayern clip about 50 times, it’s still unbelievable to see him make that interception, both the anticipation and the speed to get in and nick the ball, unbelievable!
Also, the tackle on Gomis, he does have a WTF happened look.