Konstantinos Mavropanos was shipped out on loan to German second tier side Nürnberg in January, having failed to be selected to play at all by previous managers Unai Emery and Freddie Ljungberg earlier in the term, possibly hampered by the groin injury picked up shortly after the summer.
The Greek defender has impressed in spells for our first-team, and it was somewhat of a shock when he was allowed to leave the club on loan, especially when you considered the division that he was to play in.
It remains to be seen whether the move will help his development, with Mavroponos featuring just five times in the league so far, and what is worse is that he was just starting to get a grasp on regular action before the Coronavirus arrived to suspend the beautiful game.
On his return, he will have even more rivals for first-team action, with William Saliba already agreed to join, and the likely permanent signing of Pablo Mari, who is currently impressing in North London.
Mavroponos thoroughly impressed when making his first-team debut with our club, and at 22 years-old should be considered a player of sheer potential still, but with the wealth of numbers I can see him losing out, and I would hate to see us lose out on a top talent just by overlooking a player that is keen to get on the pitch.
I for one will be hoping that Arteta has been watching his performances in Germany before making any decisions on his future, and after a full pre-season back with us, assuming we will get one with the current climate, he might just earn his way into the manager’s thinking.
Does Mavroponos deserve better than playing in the German second tier? Could he still have a future at Arsenal?
Patrick
Next to Saliba maybe?