The Spanish right-back Hector Bellerin was a target to return to Barcelona for many years, and has also been linked with the moneybags PSG for the last few transfer windows, but they have just bought Achraf Hakimi instead. It appears that Arsenal are now happy to let him leave there don’t seem to be any big clubs interested any more!
The Spaniard has been with us for ten years now and until a few years ago was considered to be a world-class wing-back, but injuries have slowed him down, and he has only made 25 League starts in the last two seasons. The Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit definitely thinks it is time for Hector to leave. “It’s time for Hector Bellerin to move on from Arsenal,” he told Paddy Power (as reported in the Mirror).
“His time there has been very complicated because of injuries. I don’t remember the last time he played a whole season without injuries, that’s been the main problem for him.
“He needs to improve his capacity. When you play at a high level, you need to play every three days. This is not the case with him, and I haven’t seen improvement in terms of his play.”
But who is going to take him off our hands, given the transfer fee we expect and the big wage that he gets from the Gunners. There was talk of Real Betis taking him back to Spain, but I really don’t think they could afford him even if they wanted to. Most rumours have been concerning the Italian Champions Inter Milan, but they themselves are also suffering from financial hardship and are only interested in a one year loan. Their Chinese owners are losing money hand over fist and have recently had their shares frozen due to a mountain of debts.
Arsenal desperately need funds themselves to pay for their own targets, and with none of our sales or loans earning much in the way in capital, it looks like Arsenal may have to hold on to Bellerin unless we get a big cash offer, but if he is only used as a backup, his value will drop even further I imagine.
Have we waited one year too long in off-loading Bellerin?
I believe many clubs are still interested in his attacking abilities, but his injury record and his wage makes his price tag sounds too high
I don’t think the Italian and the Spanish clubs can afford him currently, because of the countries’ economic situations. But the rich clubs in England and PSG might be able to meet our demand
However, we surely don’t want to let one of our most dangerous fullbacks go to one of our rivals and unfortunately PSG have bought Hakimi. So we’d better extend his contract if no club is willing to buy him, since he’s homegrown and still the best attacking RB at Arsenal
Chambers looked more of a consistent attacking threat than HB when he played last year, to be honest.
Chambers is superior aerially and made some good long crosses, but Bellerin is pacier and a better dribbler. Bellerin also tends to cut inside more often than Chambers, to make himself available as an additional attacking midfielder occasionally
Sorry please does Beller-in dribble?
His dribble won us the FA Cup in 2020 and he was still doing it last season
Very true Bellerin remains the best we have at right back and we should not be in a hurry to sell him. Though he has not improved in his defending after his recovery from knee injury. If he wants to go we should sell him. Cedric should be trusted to develop more in the area and Chambers is also a good option. We should have no concern at the R. wing.
no serious team with a title ambition will depend on a player like Chambers he lacks idea
Chambers was and is a better option in both attack and particularly defense.
One only has to do a comparison with other EPL clubs, let alone “normal/average” clubs in Europe, to see that there are too many players at Arsenal earning £100k per week wages. This makes them extremely difficult to move on.
” DANGEROUS?” Only to our own lack of progress I’d say! If you seriously rate BELLERIN, EVEN AFTERALL THESE YEARS OF HIM BEING TOTALLY UNABLE TO DEFEND AND NOW THAT HIS ONE TIME SPEED HAS GONE, THEN I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH YOU.
Unfortunately Bellerin is on high wages, still a very poor defender, and injuries have robbed him of speed; his best asset.
He probably should have been sold last Summer if we had any offers. When the club decided on a “Retool” rather than a “Rebuild” last year this is the resulting fallout.
Hindsight is 20/20, but many were calling for both Bellerin and Xhaka to be sold last Summer.
Instead they stayed, delivered more of the same, and very few were surprised by the results.
Arsenal and Onana had personal terms agreed at the start of the transfer window with the intention of concluding the deal near the end of the window but five European clubs have shown serious interest in Onana and now may force Arsenal to move quicker than expected.
His supposed move to Lyon, Inter or wherever is far from done.
Locatelli to Juventus is now a done deal. It won’t happen for Arsena.
Glad to hear about Locatelli, because we won’t need someone like him
Never had much hope for the Locatelli deal from the start. Player never seemed interested and we were likely a ploy to up the ante from Juventus.
Arsenal had to try though; great player, young, reasonable price, and better than any midfielder we have.
This is how Villa must feel regarding their ESR bid. I’m sure not the last disappointment we’ll have in this window, it’s just how transfers work.
Not at dig at Arteta or Edu, it’s just how clubs, players, and especially agents play each other.
Fair play to our team for going after a solid player that would certainly have improved our midfield.
Durand, the positive is that Arsenal is apparently going hard for James Maddison, offering to double his wage and the iconic DB #10 shirt.
According to his agent Lyon and Onana have agreed personal terms he has his heart set on Lyon the player wants to reunite with Peter Bosz Dutch manager of Lyon who used to manage Ajax OL wants to pay 6M plus bonuses and Ajax want 10M not a big gap if you ask me.
Is Denzel Dumfries available? I would trade HB, Soares and ANM (all three) for this one player.
To answer the question yes we’ve waited too long to offload him which should not come as a surprise.
Ad PAT correctly asks “who can afford him”!
I would argue that WE cannot afford to KEEP him, and certainly not in the team, even if we are unable to now sell him(through missing our chance a few years ago). How this totally rank bad defender has stayed so many seasons as a regular at RB is to my mind one of lifes unfathomable mysteries.
I can only conclude that our last several managers have always prioritised his one time speed- now gone forever – as more important than being able to defend.
I have never agreed with that wrong thinking and firmly suggest that I AND OTHERS WHO THINK LIKEWISE HAVE BEEN RIGHT ALL ALONG.
Since Bellerin wasn’t with his national squad for the Euros, If there was any really interested club for Bellerin’s services, the deal would have been concluded by now. He must be seen as a back-up option for some clubs, which were mentioned as his possible destinations. At best, we may expect a loan deal at the eleventh hour of the transfer window.
Bellerin is not going anywhere, except a big bid comes from either PSG or Barcelona, which may not be the case in the coming new season. I hope is injury free so that he can deliver for us.