Arsene Wenger has lavished praise on young fullback Hector Bellerin after he continued his rapid improvement with a cracking performance against Aston Villa yesterday.
The former Barcelona youth topped off a great display with his first Arsenal goal, and what a finish it was too.
And it’s all so different from earlier this season when he was handed his first start for the club away at Dortmund and suffered a torrid night in Germany. In fairness, that was true of the team, not just Bellerin, but the Arsenal manager is clearly delighted with his progress.
“It’s great – I’m pleased for him,” he said. “He grows from game to game, he’s more confident and he has that electric pace even in the last minute, to go past people and to get crosses in. Defensively, he has improved a lot.
“Considering his first game, at Dortmund, and what I think of him today, that’s credit to him, because he had a bit of a nightmare away from home in Dortmund.
“When you see what he has produced today, you can only say ‘well done and continue to keep your priorities right – defend well, go forward when you can,’ and he’s doing that well.”
It’s another illustration of how chance and timing plays a big part in a player’s career. Had Mathieu Debuchy not suffered with such serious injury this term, it’s likely Bellerin would have spent most of his time in the reserves or out on loan.
But he’s another who has been given a chance and taken it with both hands. It’s great to see.
I love the enthusiasm Bellerin brings to the team. He’s so fun to watch, and the genuine delight his teammates take in seeing him progress is great. Back when he set up Giroud for a goal with a great hard cross into the box against Newcastle, I remember Mertesacker in particular running up to him and rubbing his head like a proud older brother.
Hope this kid is with the Gunners for years to come.
If we build a title team next year and win some trophies he will stay. But, if we keep fighting for fourth and refuse to sign the necessary one or two players that will move us to the next level, I am afraid you will see the DNA and all that coming at us by 2016.
You meant to say 2012. Because you yourself are clearly in 2011.
It really baffles me that people can think so negatively regarding youngsters coming up through the ranks but yet get excited and suggest Mr X and Y signing to be “just what we need”. Top teams should be producing quality from within. Barcelona do it, the Germans as a whole do it, why is it such a fuss when Arsenal do it. Why should the manager (wenger or otherwise) have to spend on positions he doesn’t need to. Why should a club nurture young players, why have a loan system, why even bother with an academy and reserve team? (rhetorical… Read more »
What is this got to do with my point? When did I say close the Academy? Or sign a right back instead of Berrelin?
But, as we are in this subject, Mixture of Academy and top class players is the way forward. No shame on that as you said The Spanish do it and the German do it and we should do it too.
Well I don’t believe the first comment – which you replied to – said anything about ‘stuck fighting for fourth’, who we have or have not signed, or DNA now, did it?
Shouldn’t be so surprised after setting the precedent and the negative tone.
“Mixture of Academy and top class players is the way forward. ”
Players from our Academy, or improved while at our club: Wilshere, Gibbs, Coquelin, Szcz, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Walcott, Gnabry, Bellerin
Top class signings brought in: Ospina, Mertesacker, Debuchy, Koscielny, Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud (as much as people don’t want to believe in his quality).
As TOG said, it’s not 2011.
Idiot!
ToGooner and Whynot, I don’t think you even realised where this young good talent Bellerin came from, do you?. That is why you didn’t get my point when I said DNA. And if you know football and NOT being a dreamer after 5 good results, you would know we need another one of two top top top class players to move us to another level as the singing of Ozil, Alexis and to some extend Ospina did, and NOT “killed” anyone, in fact made other players look and take notice. Look in how the Ox and Ramsey improved by just… Read more »
Sorry….what is this DNA you talk about? I only know LANS
We took Bellerin from the Barca Academy as a 16 year old kid with another player who is in loan at Brentford called Jon Toral. And like in Cesc case, as soon as Bellerin makes it, we know what they will do as their right back Dani Alves now almost 32. Oh, and Bellerin has only 18 months left in his contract 🙁 .
Bellerin has a ‘gooner’ tattoo on his shoulder. I don’t think you should compare him with that snake just because they’re compatriots.
I agree. Don’t understand why you’re getting thumbed down.
Who are we to say he won’t get swayed by the barca dna stuff.
Its because its still an unnecessarily negative comment following a good result, a good transfer window, a good run of form and the emergence of two young players.
Everything is shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!
You do realize that Cesc left Barcelona too right? It isn’t a perfect world
Jesus fucking christ lighten the fuck up will you please. We just won 5-0 with our shiny new superstar striker in the stands, and all you seem interested in doing is drag shit back down. Try enjoying life, you sorry fucking prick.
That Barca side, under Guardiola was the best team in the world, maybe even the decade… so I can see why the DNA would respond to such a call. But this current lot isn’t all that. Barca has turned into a hypocritical, self-righteous club. Don’t think Hector will fall for it
I don’t want to get carried away, like with Coquelin, but my hopes for him grows with each game…my optimism about the team too, although I know from past experience how quickly I begin to sulk if :d
There’s nothing wrong with getting carried away with your Coq and Bell.
I can see it now. This kid will go on to become a red and white legend. We’ll name a stand after him, I for one can’t wait to sit in the Bell end
and Arteta should be a little worried, this kid’s hair is beautiful!
It’s truly a pleasing sight to see players like Bellerin & Coquelin making a name for themselves after being afforded golden chances through injury. Credit to both of them for having faith in themselves to go on and cement regular spots in the team, despite the circumstances.
Wenger shows once again that age is not an issue, provided you have the quality. They’ve both showed it in spades over recent weeks.
And credit to Wenger for giving them the opportunity to shine…
I reckon Debuchy’s going to have a nightmare too trying to back into the team, but a good nightmare it will be. COYG
Not to mention poor old Corporal Jenks!
who has been doing great for West Ham. I’ve been watching a lot of their games to see how Corporal’s being doing and he has been man of the match on many occasions.
Yep, we now have three strong right backs on the books in all the age categories. Plus Chambers, who looks like he’s going to have to be a CB to ever get a game.
Quick as lightening, great control, v fit girlfriend, great goal (mirror of Ozil’s).
The right back position is looking good for the next few years.
What does his girlfriend have to do with anything?
She’s a model, I suspect we will see a lot of her, like it or not.
Jesus, get a life.
Get some sense of humour :(.
Blog,
Maybe to keep him happy and errrr some of us when looking at her. You know some of us single here :).
Not hard to see why.
I am glad you happy with your boyfriend and not single 🙂 .
That’s it, dig faster.
Cygan, go home. How can anyone have anything negative to say about this Arsenal team right now?
Replacement for Ludivine?
Ludivine Benchgna… Nothing against Sagna but what the hell! What did he move for?
Answer = £££££££££££££££££££
Definitely. She has put photos with him out there, you can find them easily.
Though grow up…
I really love his enthusiasim and the way he improves, he really has the potential to go all the way up to the best.
The only thing I’m sorry about is Jenkinson though, I really love to see him play as well – but the way it is, despite delivering very stable (although less flashy) performances at West Ham, he will have no chance of breaking into the team even if we look at Chambers as a CB / DMF on the long term.
I think Bellerin’s development is a great opportunity to try Chambers as a DMF. I just don’t think Chambers looks very strong as RB but I think he has the qualites somewhat similar to Ramsey and might be a little more defensive minded than Ramsey. They might make a good duo together at DMF.
I don’t get why people fancy Chambers as a defensive midfielder.
His mobility is pretty low, and although he’s tidy on the ball you need a lot more than that to be an effective pivot.
People fancy Chambers as a midfielder because in FIFA you can slot players into whatever position you please and often still be fine, so they assume it’s the same way in real life.
No need for arsey comments- perhaps people fancy him that way because Wenger said in August/ September that’s where he sees him ending up. And forgive me if I’m wrong, but he probably knows a liiiiittle bit more than you or I, or anyone else for that matter.
@Mc1892 – yeah Wenger knows so much about it and … hasn’t tried Chambers in that role. Wake me up when your evidence actually supports your argument.
Also, what manager has never been wrong? I love Wenger, as any good Arsenal supporter should, but since when does that make him infallible? I certainly hope you’ve never criticised him or questioned his judgment before, with an attitude like that.
He did try him there, against Southampton I think it was, but it really didn’t work out that well as both him and Coquelin were trying to do the same thing, I guess.
He does have good attributes to play in midfield though, he’s really not that slow, i think people are misinterpreting the way he gets caught of position with a lack of physical attributes, just needs some experience imo.
Maybe, but Chambers is a CB all day long in my opinion
Chambers has good footwork and vision on the attack, but he’s slower than any of our other fullbacks when tracking back against the counter-attack.
I hope to god that the players at barca dont start with their barca DNA crap
hopefully bellarin can learn from fabregas mistake and avoid them
nevertheless I see bellarin and jenko as our future right backs and it will be good competition between them just like gibbs and monreal at the moment
jenko is improving with game time and i dont want him gone since he is an arsenal lad and is prepared to give his life for us
I’d love to see Jenks back too, but not just because he’s an Arsenal lad, but because he’s shown he’s the right standard – he’s getting lots of good practice at spammers, just as coquelin did on his loans. So let’s wait and see – he needed to improve and I think Bellerin was seen as the better prospect. AKB again 🙂
I’d give my life for arsenal too (well – you know – metaphorically speaking) but you wouldn’t want me at right back.
I think we only need one young, developing RB and with Chambers as a utility man that can fill in there, Jenkinson isn’t going to be close to the first team until Debuchy retires or leaves, and that would probably stunt his development or he’d get itchy feet and want first team football, like he’s getting now. I know he’s a gooner, but is training with us and occasionally sitting on the bench going to be enough to counter the offer of actually playing in the Premiership? I doubt it. If he gets better than Bellerin in the last half… Read more »
Well we could do worse than to use the Barcelona transfer ban period wisely, by getting all our management team to practice the phrase: “Fuck off, you cheapskate cuntbuckets.” every day.
With a bit of luck they’ll have got it right by the time the Cuntalonian menace are allowed to start their scrounging again.
Have you heard Bellerin speak? He’s more cockney than Catalan. I think if the contract is good enough for his agent* he’ll sign beyond his current deal.
* I’m positive these things are primarily down to agents driving up their commission more than player demands.
Hector is the best FB we’ve had for years and years and probably ever. Not much to prove now, just keep doing what your doing and you’ll be a legend.
eh i dont want to knock the guy but hes been in the team 11 times and now hes better than Lauren, Sagna, Cole, Dixon, Winterburn, Debuchy, Samson, Anderson and Ryan Garry.
You either are mad or need to use smiley faces more in your posts.
For what its worth i think he could well be an arsenal great but as a winger or an inside forward ala Ronaldo
Are we all still ‘pretending’ that Sylvinho never played for us just in case the Home Office are watching?
He was the guy with the portugese grandmother, right? I remember well the way he talked about how he used to love visiting her in Potugal, and the way he felt so European due to his connection.
Way to get ahead of ourselves!?! Best fullback we’ve ever had!?!
Look, I don’t wanna get ahead of myself here, but that finish yesterday showed than Bellerin is easily the best finisher we’ve ever had, possibly the best to ever play the game.
In fact in 5 years time I fully expect him to have eclipsed Arsene’s achievements as Arsenal manager – he’s THAT good.
I heard they’re already recasting non-martial art Chuck Norris jokes with Hector Bellerin.
I love how Gooners dont get carried away at all.
Wait until he gives away a goal and then see how opinion sways.
For example, Arsene knows, Arsene must go etc etc etc etc .
Arsene knows he must go.
I’ve just solved the arsenal paradox.
And thats all folks
Thing is, Arsene does know, he knows damn well better than everyone else.
That he has to go?
I love watching him tear up and down the right flank. He’s a footballer with incredible pace. I too feel a bit for jenks but I’m sure he’ll carve out a decent enough career for himself.
If jenks can tolerate another season or two learning his trade on loan at a bpl club then when debuchy starts to wane in his 30’s he will be an excellent back up to bellerin.
Sometimes you just get a feeling about a player… My spidey sense is telling me hector is the real deal
He has similar characters to Jordi Alba, apart from he’s younger, faster and plays for us. If he can prove his defensive ability consistently I think he’ll be a future great.
Jeez, I hope not. Jordi Alba is an unpleasant whiney wee shite
and suspect on the D side of the game
Okay, okey – APART FROM younger, faster, plays for us, not an unpleasant whiney wee shite, and a not suspect on the D side of the game … yeah, there are some similarities to Alba.
his attackin play, as a right back, for me, is exceptional for one so young and his pace is quite frightening…..i remember he was caught out of position once during the aston villa match and he just stepped on the pedal to catch up and make a recovery tackle, and it was like the attacking aston villa winger was on slow motion…frightening! he has shown against quality opposition that he is quite good defensively, he has pace, very good going forward ……and he now seems to want to develop an eye for goal, which frankly, will be consistent with his… Read more »
I think Bellerin is the mortal incarnation of god
just sayin
In my opinion, hes better than that, but fair enough
IMO he falls inbewteen the Beatles and Jesus on the importance scale.
The beatles aren’t important.
You only have to see how he delivers with intelligence, skills,pace at only 19. Never seen any Arsenal full back as skillfully as this young lad. Remind me of Philip lahn
Fucking hell, Lahm?
some of you guys need to chill. let the boy be the best version of himself.
I expect he will get a call up for Spain quite soon. Give him a few years of development and Barca and Madrid could be wanting him.
Pity for Jenks, but he is currently not as good as either Bellerin or Debuachy, so expect him to sign for another club in the summer. He would be well advised to join West Ham, as its a London club he does not hate.
Have you seen Jenks play this season, he has been nothing short of immense. Bellerin has had 3 good performances? Jenks has had about 20 in a row.
CALM DOWN!!!
More like half a dozen, and from what I’ve seen then they’ve been better than Jenks’. I like Jenkinson, but in the half dozen West Ham games I’ve seen, he’s been a competent young full-back, which isn’t easy, but he hasn’t shown any more than what I saw from him whilst he was here.
He’d probably be good enough for us, I just suspect Bellerin will be better.
Wooh lets not get ahead of ourselves
he is young he is a good prospect for the future lets not overburden the young lad with our immense expectations
he will have some inconsistant performences in the future and thats to be expected from a young player
lets be patient with him and support him and help him nurture his full potential
I’d like to see him work on a goal celebration 😉 Bloody good prospect though.
Actually I kind of like the ‘Happy Gangster’ celebration.
Heeey, Santi! Come ‘ere an give yo cousin a hug!
Hopefully we found our Luke Shaw. A player with great potential that can serve us through the next decade. He compliments our attacking game so well.
1. Luke Shaw is a left back.
2. Luke Shaw went to Manure which makes him a cnut.
We found our Luke Shaw a while ago when Paul Ashcroft dug up a strange shape stone… it was a brick.
the fat kid playing in the worst united defence in 30 years? that one? the one ashley young is keeping out of the starting 11? ashley young?
i really hope he is not our luke shaw. but then, he cost about £27m less so so far so good.
incredibly harsh to say he had a nightmare at Dortmund, perhaps the manager is referencing the whole team performance on the night there which certainly was nightmarish.
Agree. Not sure anyone was nightmare free in an Arsenal shirt that night. Where I concur is that Bellerin and Coquelin have both shown immense character through this recent period, to stake a valid claim to a first team place. As for Jenkinson I truly hope we can find a way to keep him on our books. Chambers is a long term CB prospect which leaves us with (an aging) Debuchy and Bellerin. Having cover in all positions is something we have long waited for. Loaning/selling strikers is one thing but we are nowhere deep enough to sell any other… Read more »
Thing is though, Debuchy has another 4/5 years in him and Jenkinson shouldn’t wait that long for first team football. We are plenty deep enough at RB to sell Jenkinson, but give him the rest of the season to prove he’s a better prospect than Bellerin and he might get his shot.
Big dilemma next season, because Jenks has been awesome too.
Wenger is a stubborn old rogue at times and going into the season with scarcity of resources in defence was pretty dreadful but you have to accept that he sees the bigger picture when we do not. He knows how good Bellerin is and could be and with the much needed signing of Gabriel we look pretty good in defence if the new boy also produces. We have enough cover in central defence and on the left and the right and actually I think we have real quality to call upon now when we suffer injuries etc. I am looking… Read more »
He reminds me of Derek Tapscott!! You probably won’t know him, it’s a kid I went to school with.
Come on, surely everyone on here remembers Derek Tapscott. What a guy. And whatever became of his sister Felicity Tapscott? Nacho Monreal has always reminded me in her. Surely it’s not a coincidence that both of our current fullbacks bear an uncanny resemblance to the Tapscotts. Somebody in the media needs to look into this further. In fact thinking about it, Giroud also bears an uncanny resemblance to their auntie, Thelma Birkenstock-Formaldehyde. Something very strange is going on here and it’s about time it was made public.
That’s not the only strange thing going on here, if truth be told.
Excellent so far. He has been playing behind Ox or Alexis who both always put in a shift defensively which is a great help for him. My only concern is that if Walcott gets a run in the side he will be left very exposed when playing against decent opposition….that’s more a gripe against Walcott, he didn’t seem too bothered getting back a good few times against Villa….
That statement alone, his first game Dortmund Away, sounds like child abuse.
Always good to see the youth coming through and improving and Akpom got a few minutes as well.
Regarding Jenkinson, nowadays top teams try to have 2 or 3 players that can play the same position. Debuchy will be 30 this year, so there’s a chance Wenger will look to keep Jenkinson on, though he might have to go out on loan again
You really have to feel for Debuchy as he finally was getting his chance to play with a big club and in the CL and then to have two devastating freak injuries like he has had to pretty much make this season a bust. To top it off Bellerin has come in and excelled after a rough start and looks better each match. Wenger is going to have at tough time keeping Bellerin out of the lineup once Debuchy is healthy at this rate. It’s obviously tough to predict a youngster’s future path as there are so many things that… Read more »
He’s also got that heated section for his feet while sitting on the bench.
You know, for a guy who has played just 11 times for us, we sure are elevating our expectations. May be its me but I feel players, especially ours are weighed down by expectation, exception being of course Alexis. We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves here and Jenko has plenty of time to improve so we mustn’t rule him out playing for us, honestly if I was Debuchy I would be worried
I love Bellerin, we should enjoy him before UEFAlona starts prying him away because of his ‘DNA’
This is a genuine worry I have…I think it’s understandable given the past but I’m telling myself to believe that this is a new and different times and a different arsenal and hopefully a different narrative to follow. After we smash them in the champions league, we can have Giroud and Arteta come out and say how great of a player Messi is and then ambush him with an arsenal shirt and coax him into taking a wage cut to sign for us. 😀
We’ve produced some great FB over the years, and clearly Bellerin has more chance of being a Clichy, Gibbs or Cole than a Traore or Hoyte based on what we’ve seen so far.
Certainly his emergence means we’ve got a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th option at RB when Jenkers returns. Nice position to be in.
As for Jenks or Bellerin, why choose?
Brink back Jenks next season, send Bellerin on a seasons loan (West Ham?) where’ll be a defacto starting RB. a year later, as Debuchy is 32, chances are he may be on the wane so get him as cover CB (I’d guess Mert will be in his twilight), and we’ll have Jenks and Bellerin left to battle it out.
Or keep Bellerin, who is looking like he could be first choice RB and… no, that’s it.
Crap idea, forget it…
Loaning out Bellerin, that is….. Keep him right here.. he’s a gem..
Send Bellerin out on loan?? Let’s send out Alexis on loan while we’re at it.
Quick, skilful and very assured on the ball, is that lad Bellerin. Good looking too to boot.
There was this clearance he made with his left on a very good cross from Villa.
Top notch prospect!
My advice is not to mention looks, male and especially not female, or you’re in trouble. It’s not relevant.
Ha Ha!
True though… personally give a fuck about players (and their gurlfriends) looks about as much as I give a fuck about the consistency of horse shit.
A new age of awoken peoples would be delightful.
As I have mentioned before, Coquelin has been doing a fantastic job at DM. BUT the improvement in defensive performance is not simply down to him. 1) We have a stable partnership at Cback for the first time this season. This is perhaps most telling. Brighton serves to illustrate and debunk the nonsense written in certain quarters castigating Per for being ‘slow’. Koscielny shone of his his more familiar partner struggled paired with Monreal. 2) The back 4 as a whole has been able to position themselves better. We have leaked most goals from crosses and not from the mythical… Read more »
Nightmares are part of life provided you wake up and get going…exactly what Bellerin did.
With the reserves, maybe. Go out on loan? I doubt. Jenko had taken that slot already. I believe the manager had made his decisions in the summer.
Bellerin’s been hammering nails into jenko’s coffin with every match.
he is one of the best young fullbacks in europe on current form. he’s 19 and looks not a whisker out of place in such a big clubs starting 11. what’s his contract situation?
what an amazing season seeing coq and bellarin come into form like this. arsene wenger, take a bow.