Another Arsenal defender likely to leave for free in the summer

The Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny is out of contract next summer and has admitted he probably would have left last summer if he hadn’t been injured, our consistent left-back Nacho Monreal is yet to agree an extension with the club as he approaches his 33rd birthday in February and of course Stephan Lichtsteiner was only signed on a one-year contract as a short-term fix.

Now the 21 year-old Julio Plezeguelo, who has only just recently made his senior debut, has admitted that he could have left last summer and still hasn’t agreed a new contract with the Gunners. “I had options to go out in the summer, but I wanted to stay here,” Pleguezuelo said in Marca. “The first step I have already made with this debut, now what I want is to continue having opportunities in the first team. I do not want to be overwhelmed either, I only think about my work and training.”

“I’m waiting to see how everything happens, I have to talk to my agent,” he said. “My goal is to stay at Arsenal, I would like to continue and, if it is not here, then in England. I have offers in Spain, but at the moment it’s not my idea to go back.”

I know defenders generally have longer careers than forward players, but 21 still seems pretty old to be making his debut for a club like Arsenal. I would be very surprised if he is given a new contract but you never know we may be desperate by then. It is unlikely Carl Jenkinson will be staying either if he can find a new club, so we could be urgently looking for many defenders at the end of the season. Well, we certainly need a shake up at the back!

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15 Comments

  1. I agree that Arsenal have to rejuvenate their defenders

    If Pleguezuelo can play like Umtiti, it would be great. But Arsenal still need an experienced towering CB that is decent on the ball like Pique

    A new left fullback is also needed, as we cannot rely on Kolasinac’s fitness. Unless Joel Lopez can step up

  2. Holding is continuing to improve and Mavro had real promise before his injury. Sokratis can play as Pleg is brought along so that gives us 3 CB in next couple years to compete and rotate. We also have another on loan at Char Ath, so I’d be surprised if Kronke cracks the wallet for CB’s anytime soon.

    Lopez is heir apparent as LB in my limited understanding, and has comparisons to Bellerin if I’m correct. With Monreal aging, Kola may be stop gap for Lopez until he’s ready. I would guess more stop gaps in Fullbacks in our near future ratjer than top players brought in.

    I’m hopeful the youngsters are brought up, but not convinced Kronke will use his financial power to “buy titles” like City. Instead he’ll rely on Sven to find young players to grow a team not financially build one.

    I think we’ll be tough and competitive for several years going forward, but not competing for titles with Kronke’s growth strategy of value, Sven, and Scroogery with his wallet.

    I’m merely commenting of the foundation being laid through Sven scouting, and transfer activity of recent windows.

  3. Sorry off topic but just seen the Totts Nomads new toilet bowl stadium won’t be ready for early new year and they have now applied to hold all their games at Wembley until the end of this season.

  4. Our defenders are no where good enough to compete with the best teams
    People are delusional if they think we can win the Premier League or even come close with the defenders we have

    We will start seeing this in the second half of the season. They’ve done a decent job so far but they won’t last in the business end of the season in my opinion

    Sokratis, Mustafi are not good enough
    Holding, Chambers, Mavrapanos don’t have enough experience and quality to start

    I would suggest getting at least one defender in January then more in the summer

    I hope Koscielny stays after this season as a coach. Having a former World Class defender as a coach would be awesome

    1. @Innit, how do you add another CB to our already bloated roster ? We have Sokratis, Holding, Mustafi, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Chambers and now Plezeguelo. I am not saying that we have the best CB pairing in the world nor am I against buying someone who’ll improve us at the back but honestly how do you keep so many CB’s in one team bar Chambers ?

        1. Mustafi has the most clearances per game by a massive margin, the most interceptions, only Guendouzi makes more tackles per game than Mustafi, nobody has made more interceptions per game than Mustafi, only Sokratis is dribbled past less per game and its 0.2 vs 0.3. It’s comical the praise Torreira (5th tackles/2nd interceptions/4th dribbled past/11th clearances) gets for improving our defence just because of dumb perceptions not that he hasn’t obviously settled well he’s just not excelling by any massive degree that you would expect from the adulation he gets. Xhaka/Lichsteiner/Laca are all more likely to commit fouls whilst Sokratis/Torreira are 0.1 per game behind which given their overall worse defensive stats is not particularly in favour of them.

          Only thing I can seem understand is when he does make a foul it usually looks very clumsy and that is why people hate him but he doesn’t commit fouls at a high rate so it’s obviously not a real issue. He is in the sky power rankings team of the year so far.

          Nothing I abhor more than willful ignorance. Emery has made this very clear choosing to rest Mustafi in Europa games and let Holding/Sokratis battle it out for the other spot it’s so surreal how people will argue in the face of all these facts. Wenger played mustafi, Sven/Raul showed no intention to sell him, Emery plays Mustafi as clear 1st choice and all the stats say he is best. You have to pretty pig headed to still believe you are right that he is our worst defender in the face of all that.

          1. I thought in trying to seem more knowledgeable you wouldn’t have stooped so low because you were very arrogant in the way you came across.I wouldve thought that you would’ve made him see more reason but yet again as I’ve observed here countless times knowledge has induced arrogance.
            Btw on your stats that say that Mustafi has the most clearances per game by a massive margin, the most interceptions with only Guendouzi making more tackles per game than him, and only Sokratis being dribbled past more are all true.However, this does not necessarily mean that due to this he is a top CB or whatever.This is because the stats which are facts has not put all the perspectives and the instances within which he acquired all these stats.Even based on stats Mustafi is far better than Van Dijk.But is this really true?No.I would’ve thought that someone who potrays himself to be so knowledgeable would ‘ve known by know that stats do not necessarily portray how good a player is but just numbers which denote the total activity of a player.It does not put things into perspective hence it is wrong for anyone to use stats to come to a conclusion about how good a player is unless that person has watched that player and hence correlated it with the stats.

          2. Anyone who judges total ability only by stats is in my viw less than very bright. There are so many other intangibles and your strage viewpoint in your post supposes that the overwhelming majority of Gooners who cannot satndd Musafi must be wrong. The ” stats” of those who want him out compared to those who want him in; you and a tiny few others, show a large majority for us. THAT stat is about the only one on him I believe in. You are virtually alone Angus . Alone with your precious but misleading stats!

    2. The only CB’s I consider good are Sokratis and Holding.As for Mavropanos I’ve not seen enough of him to come to a app is conclusion about him though he looked good in the few matches he played.The rest of our CB’s including the young ones are imo not good enough and even though some have shown promise I do not see them becoming world class anytime soon.Its kind of sad and disappointing that lots of faith and pressure are put on some players who do not have the quality to become world class.

  5. I’m sure if John stones or Joe Gomez was in arsenal we would be saying they are not good enough.. We need to trust our players.. For me arsenal is just a couple of fast wingers away from a demolition side..

    1. @Quincy, I share the same sentiment. I do not see any CB that can improve our side right away considering our tight budget. I am happy to see out the season with what we currently have in defense.
      I would love to see a WF arrival in January and Emile Smith-Rowe to be given a run in the league matches considering our lack of options on the wings.

  6. It’s a matter of quality not quantity.Apart from Holding and the injured Mav I would not shed a tear it Emery decided to release/ sell all the other back four players.Monreal has proved to be a good signing over the years but time is catching up with him and there is a need for upgrades in our entire defence apart from Goal where Leno meets the quality we need.

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