Would Arsenal miss Hector Bellerin if he leaves in the summer?

Would Arsenal miss Hector Bellerin if he leaves in the summer?

By Adam Le Roux

There always comes a time when player and club have to part ways, but some players are much harder to say goodbye to than others. 

There would have been plenty of Arsenal fans willing to frogmarch Mesut Ozil directly to Istanbul themselves if it meant getting the German out the club, but with Hector Bellerin it's different. 

The Spaniard is something of an adopted son around these parts, having signed for the club from Barcelona as a 16-year-old in 2011, and being a Gunner for the best part of a decade. 

But at 25 years old, the former Watford loanee is reportedly getting itchy feet, with a return to Barcelona being mooted, as a well as a summer switch to PSG. 

Bellerin would be greatly missed at the club if he were to move on, but is that just the heart talking? Sentimentality can be a cruel judge sometimes. 

Hector has been a hero

There haven't been many more consistent players in an Arsenal shirt than Hector Bellerin in the past ten years. You always know what you are going to get from the Spaniard. 

The right-back is never one to shirk his workload, and does the business at both ends of the pitch brilliantly, with his runs from right back often exploiting gaps in opposing defences. 

He knows when to stick and when to twist, and his incredible pace has been a fulcrum of many an Arsenal attack, as he saunters to the byline before lofting in a ball to the strikers. 

And even the blood and snotters stuff at the back, his ability to read a game and stifle attacks has come on leaps and bounds, as we have watched him mature before our eyes. 

Of course, he isn't alone in being singled out for criticism this season. There wasn't anyone associated with Arsenal Football Club that was spared a barrage of abuse in that tough pre-Christmas period, where points and wins were hard to come by. 

But one thing you could say for Bellerin is you could see just how much it meant to him, and how the poor performances and results were affecting him as much as any supporter. 

And that's because he is one now. You don't stay at a club for ten years if they don't have a special place in your heart, and that passion and desire to do his best for the club is something that endears him to each and every person who tunes in to watch the Gunners every week. 

If injuries hadn't blighted his time at the club, he would have amassed comfortably more than the 180 Premier League appearances he has so far, with a cruciate ligament injury in 2019 the worst of the bunch. 

But this season the right-back has been one of the first names on the team sheet for Mikel Arteta, a manager who he described as an 'older brother' when the boss was still a player. 

And that form hasn't gone unnoticed by his compatriot, with the Arsenal boss pleased the defender has put his recent fitness woes behind him. 

"It's true that this season he's found much more consistency," Arteta said. "He's been available in many more matches and hopefully, he's now forgotten the last two years when injuries meant he wasn't able to play as much."

When you see how highly Bellerin is regarded at the Emirates, not just by supporters but by the other players and members of staff at the club, it's hard to see why he would want to set sail anytime soon. 

He has made London his home and is playing some of the best football of his career, but his performances have caught the eye of more than one European giant this year. 

How do you battle with Barca?

We all know Bellerin's history; his time spent coming up through the ranks at La Masia from the age of eight, before moving to England as a sprightly teenager to pursue his Premier League dream before most of us have even finished school. 

It's easy to think why he might feel he has unfinished business at the Camp Nou and as he comes into the prime of his career, you wouldn't begrudge him wanting to find a new challenge. 

The Catalan giants are currently in the process of electing a new president, with candidate Joan Laporta keen to get his hands on the Arsenal right-back if he wins the battle for supremacy. 

If you believe everything you read, Bellerin was convinced to stay at the Emirates for another year by his new boss last summer. But if Ronald Koeman's side come knocking this time around, you wouldn't be so sure he will stick around. 

In Cedric we trust

There won't be many Arsenal fans that want Bellerin to leave this summer, but if he does they can sleep easy knowing that they have a ready-made replacement at the club in Cedric Soares. 

The Portuguese star was magnificent in the 3-1 victory over Leicester at the weekend, as he deputised at right-back following the Europa League success over Benfica on Thursday night. 

The former Southampton man looked calm and composed in that role, and ventured forward time and time again to exploit the Foxes' defensive frailties. 

After a slow start to life at the Emirates he really seems to be finding his feet, with 20 appearances for the club this season, and the longer stretch of time he gets in the team the more the side benefits. 

So, yes, we will miss Bellerin if he goes. After all, he's one of our own and there aren't many players in the modern game that stick with a club for ten years. 

But when the time comes Arsenal will be ready to move on, and in Cedric they have the perfect man to pick up the mantle. 

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