Hector Bellerin was one of our acdemy’s superstarlets after arriving at Arsenal from La Masia, and after joining the first team was one of our top performers and most saleable assets until he got severely injured in the 2018/19 season.
After recovery, he seemed to have lost a yard or two of pace and his determination to win the ball at all costs, and he was subsequently dropped by Mikel Arteta for most of the last campaign, in fact he has only made 60 appearances in the last three seasons.
So it seemed nailed on that the Spaniard would be sold this summer, but due to the depressed transfer market, we were all surprised when he only went on loan for a season to Real Betis, taking a paycut in the process.
“It is clear that money is something important, because it is our job. But I think in football that love of sport, of the club, is being lost,” he said in Sportswitness.
“For me and for everyone it was an effort to carry out the operation, not only from the point of view of money. Also how much it cost us to get here. In the end, those efforts pay off and I had other priorities when making my decision.”
And of course, he was also asked how he saw things panning out when his loan ended next summer, and he made it clear that his wish was to remain in Spain.
Bellerín said: “I don’t know, but I’ve always said if I didn’t want to be here next season, I wouldn’t have come from the beginning.
“There are many things to be decided but what I want to do is enjoy this season that I am here. And what has to happen will happen.”
Obviously the decision will depend on Betis if they want him to stay, and maybe they will be able to afford a transfer fee by then, but first of all young Hector will have to prove that he can do a job for Manuel Pellegrini to persuade him to make Arsenal an offer.
Betis are currently 8th in La Liga, only 5 points behind the leaders, but Bellerin has only started in half of those so far.
I hope he is successful and gets his wish, as I can’t see him ever playing for Arsenal again under Arteta. Can you?