Things just got 'Mon'real for Arsenal

I woke up this morning, a bit shocked. We had actually bought someone. And, the first thing I did was google this Nacho dude. I couldn’t believe my eyes, when all Facebook fan pages were blurting out welcome messages for this new signing, supposedly considered to be, er, our savior. And, the news flash on Arsenal.com meant that this sh*t was for ‘Mon’real! Sorry.

I am pretty sure most of you chums, like me, have limited knowledge of the La Liga, its teams and its players, outside the perennial giants, that are Real Madrid and Barcelona. A little interest was ignited in Malaga, post the transfer of Santi Cazorla, and the club’s exploits in the Champions League so far.

So, my first instinct was to read his Wiki bio. Not much in it, and not too shabby either. Well, he is a Spanish international. So, surely he has got something about him. At present, the first choice left-back for Spain is Barcelona’s Jordi Alba.

Supposedly, the club have been following his career for quite some while now, but the fact that it took so long to wrap up a deal, plus the factor of Kieran Gibbs’ injury also playing its part, makes the transfer a bit more shady.

But, I am not complaining. Left back has been a problematic slot for the club for quite some time now. Gael Clichy manned the position for 6 seasons, after the departure of Ashley Cole to Chelsea. But, since then the club has had to rely on the injury-prone Kieran Gibbs, and an inconsistent and defensively incompetent Andre Santos.

Santos, like Monreal, is an international, but so far his performances give little indication of that. He is caught out of position far too often, gets beaten easily by wingers and positionally the worst left backs to wear an Arsenal shirt, unless you count out the likes of Armand Traore.

It would be interesting to see what Monreal would bring to the table. He isn’t the most intimidating of defenders, if his build is anything to go by.This is how Arsene Wenger described the Iberian’s qualities:

We bought Monreal as a left back but he can play as well as a left-sided midfielder. We bought him as well because we believe he can integrate into our style of play and adapt very quickly to that.He has the characteristics to play our game because he is very mobile, has a good left foot and is very good in combination play. That is vital in our style of play.

What Arsenal have lacked at the back is a consistent defending unit. The injuries to Kieran Gibbs, the poor form of Andre Santos and Thomas Vermaelen and the inexperience of Jernade Meade have all been detrimental to the defending. Monreal would hopefully bring some stability to the left back spot, with his experience.

Enough of the boring stuff! Let’s welcome our new acquisition into the club.