It was very clear last summer that Mikel Arteta had decided that Hector Bellerin was not part of his plans, as the boss brought in the excellent Takehero Tomiyasu on Deadline Day, and decided to keep Cedric Soares as his backup.
So Hector was allowed to return to his boyhood club Real Betis for a season long loan, and was one of their best performers as they won the Copa Del Rey.
It seemed certain that Betis woud try and keep Bellerin, but the Real Betis director Cordón has made it clear that they cannot afford to keep the right back for another year.
As Fabrizio Romano reported….
Betis director Cordón: “Ceballos is desperate to join Betis. But he’s a Real Madrid player, so I can’t say more”, he told @eldesmarque_rbb. ⚪️🟢 #transfers
“Hector Bellerín? He’s in love with Betis. He’s now back at Arsenal and we will see what happens, he knows our situation”.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 29, 2022
So, our longest serving right-bak is back at the club and looking happy. And although there have been rumours of interest from other clubs, the experienced Bellerin was made captain of the team in our very first pre-season friendly and looks more than capable of helping us out next season.
The fact is that despite Tomiyasu starting last season in Amazing form, recurring injuries saw the Japanese miss nearly all the second half, with Soares doing okay but hardly on the same level. Considering that Arsenal is hardly going to profit from letting Bellerin return to Betis for the last year of his contract, surely it would make more sense if he stayed at the Emirates for one more year to help us out in our hour of need?
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Yeah totally agree with Y, Champions League spot was lost because of bad managing of players. I don’t know ,much Arsenal earned from Belerin and Torreira and Niles but with them in the team especially in second half of season everything it would be different.
If I remember rightly Bellerin captained the team in pre season last summer before going out on loan. Bellerin will be sold this summer. He cost us nothing. Getting his 5m salary off the books is good and a fee is a bonus. Some club will come for him and a deal wil be struck. Adios Hector. Saludos :)..
@arslim’s comments
When you say bad management, do you force a player who doesn’t want to stay to? As far as am concerned Berlin didn’t perform season b4 the last due to injuries and deep in form, if we had kept him we may not have bought super Tomiyasu. I agree he had a good season with Betis hence persuading him is not bad management. This also may be said about Torrera and I believe that is why he invited them all for pre-season.
If they do not show the required commitment despite their form, what is the use?
Let Arteta take his decisions man.
And to lose him for free, sounds about our business model alright.
Great news if true.
We now have cover at RB, LB Central defence, GK.
This should see us competing without square pegs in round holes for the four competitions we are in this season.
It will also allow Hector to follow his dream move, after honouring his contract – that’s the Arsenal Way!!
Who is covering LB??? Tavares with all due respect is hopeless, Cedric not reliable on the left and Tomiyasu despite saying he can play there, did not look convincing AT ALL when he was tried. We know Tierney will go down with an injury sooner or later so we NEED a new LB not to cover Tierney but to actually REPLACE him. Tierney at best should be the cover for a new LB. Ideally he should be moved on and a more physically reliable LB brought in. I suspect Lisandro Martinez was supposed to be our new starting LB b4 Man utd hijacked the deal.
AMN and, if necessary, Xaka.
Xhaka? Really Ken? You enjoyed what you saw from Xhaka playing LB when Brighton whipped us at home? Do you wish to see Xhaka at LB again? We know Arteta trusts AMN no more than he trust Pepe so it’s safe to assume both won’t be in the squad calculations next season. We need a new LB then a new DM and hopefully a CM to replace Xhaka. Without a new LB we are a Tierney injury away from crisis.
Not Xaka, my spelling mistake… Saka, but my first choice would be AMN anyway.
I don’t agree that we need to sell Tierney.
AMN and MA need to sit down and sort out their differences – perhaps coaching hin rather than sending him out on loan would be the right course of action for a player valued at £20,000,000 just two and a half seasons ago, when Mikel arrived?!?!
Hey men saka can really play good at midfield.let the guy stay where he is
Your forgetting Cedric as well as cover for LB. He.would have been cover for Tesco last season if Tommi wasn’t injured.
I agree with Ken1945 on this one. We have an abundance of players that can play LB of left defense, we are short in RB and I wouldn’t say no to HB staying for the additional season as either competition to Tommi or cover.
Personally, I still don’t see defense as our pressing needs anyway.
So Tierney, who is superior to any English left back in the EPL, should be at best used as cover?What exactly are you talking about?
Bellerin will be sold this summer !!!
Bellerin will be sold. Cedric can deputize for one more season. Norton-cuffy can go on loan for one more season before taking over from Cedric.
There us absolutely no point in keeping him.Prior to leaving on loan his abilities at RB were inferior to those of Cedric Soares… and nothing has changed other than an increased need to find a more capable backup than Cedric.
That said he has been a good servant of the Club and getting his wages off the books by allowing him to leave on a “Free” should be the correct way to go…
I still prefer Cedric. He’s better at the basics imo
Please no! He’s been terrible for us. If you want a player that constantly passes to the opposition, then Bellerin’s your man!
Stats to prove that outlandish claim?
Funny how three clubs are vying for his services, especially if he passes to the opposition.
One of those clubs is in the CL and the others in the Europa league – perhaps they have a clue or two?
Bellerin is a better player than Cedric Soares but he will not be at Arsenal next season. He wants to play. He is a terrific player, that was obvious in how well he did for Betis last season – a little funny that both Arsenal and Betis finished fifth in their respective leagues…
Bellerin was blamed for all sorts of defensive issues at Arsenal that had nothing to do with his performances and it was strange that the supposedly “amazing” pairing of Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes, with the ‘amazing’ Tomiyasu at right back surrendered more goals than the supposedly inferior combination of Rob Holding, David Luiz, and Hector Bellerin.
A parting of ways is best for both club and player. Bellerin’s presence would only underscore Soares’ lack of quality. Arteta cannot admit being wrong – he’d rather lose matches than play a player he doesn’t want.
for Hector’s part, he is too good to sit behind a player Southampton let go on a free. Betis cannot afford him – the fee or his wages. Rumors of Atletico Madris, Villa Real, and Juventus being interested make sense, especially given his low asking price.
i honestly think that bellerin can still do a job for us. he is a very decent footballer, but not at fullback ,mind.give him a midfield or wing role, see how that works out,then we will know if he is somebody we would wish to keep or sell.
Can I just add that Bellerin has never been a
conventional RB. He is a RWB so his duties were not the blood and thunder of Dixon, Lauren and Sagna.
I give him his due he tried, but his defensive ability was always short to what we expect a RB should be. But he was never employed to that, going forward, hitting the byline and getting the cross in, I saw nothing wrong with.
Personally, I think he was left exposed by whoever played in front of him as AW did love an overlap. Unfortunately the RW didn’t like to cover.
I’d keep him for his final season as we have other areas that need improving.
@ Nickerless Bender, I agree with you Pepe mess him up the last 2 seasons b4 he went on long. The right side of the field was always porous
Expecting our team to improve while keeping Bellerin, Elneny and Xhaka, SEEMS TO ME TO BE MADNESS.
All three are hopeless and should have never been within a million miles of a club of our standing.
Unfortunately Jon, this is what we got. So, no point bitching about it. Xhaka and Elneny will be with us next season. Question is will Bellerin? and if not… who is the replacement?
Well I trust Mikel!!!
He’s given contract extensions to Xhaka and Elneny, while making Bellerin captain in our first friendly of the season.
It’s time for so called fans to get behind the decisions taken by our manager and, as a realist, I will do just that!!!!