Having broken into the Arsenal first team after an injury to Mathieu Debuchy and establishing himself as the first-choice right-back after putting in some excellent performances, it was an eventuality that Barcelona would come calling for former La Masia graduate, Hector Bellerin.
Sergi Roberto is currently starting out-of-position at right-back for the Blaugrana after Dani Alves’ departure to Juventus and was culpable in Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat to City in the Champions League.
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Similarly, Aleix Vidal has started only one league game all season, with his appearance coinciding with the shock 2-1 defeat to newly promoted Alaves at home. Luis Enrique was less than impressed with the right-back’s poor performance, leaving him out of the squad for further games against Celtic, Leganes and Athletico Madrid.
With his relationship with the club and the manager progressively worsening, it would appear that his future at the club looks bleak at best.
Barca have been linked to moves for Stoke City’s Glen Johnson and Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne, both established England internationals, but Bellerin is their primary target, according to ESPN FC.
Most of the players who do leave La Masia at a very young age (think Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas) do so in search of minutes, not because they have no intention of appearing for the club of their dreams.
This was exactly the situation Bellerin found himself in, with his route to the first team blocked by established players. Guaranteed a fast-track pass to Arsenal’s first team by Arsene Wenger, Bellerin moved to the Emirates and established himself as one of the league’s best right-backs.
One of the attributes that has probably attracted Barcelona back to the young Spaniard is his speed. His lightning quickness would dovetail very nicely with his counterpart at left-back, Jordi Alba, allowing Barcelona to attack with the same dynamism on the right as they are used to on the left.
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He is clearly held in very high regard at Catalonia, with Barcelona vice-president Jordi Merte singing praises of him in the press after the media reported the club’s interest in him.
He can be quoted as having said, “We’ve already seen him as a Cule. He’s a great player, there’s no doubt about that. Wenger convinced him to move and promised him something which we couldn’t. We could not promise him that within two years he would be playing in Dani Alves’ place.”
Barcelona have a history of signing players from Arsenal; Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Song, Marc Overmars to name a few. However, most of these players failed to kick on at the Camp Nou after showing excellent form at the London club.
The hope is that Bellerin bucks this trend. Signing him could prove to be tricky, but if they do manage to pull off the coup, they’d be arguably signing the best young right-back on the planet, someone who would nail down that position in the Barcelona first team for years to come.
With only 2 years left to run on his current deal, the Gunners may cash in on the Spaniard and stop him from transferring to a Premier League club.
