Via L’Equipe comes news that Hector Bellerin has signed a new deal with the club.
The Spanish full back is having a breakthrough campaign, deputising for the unfortunate Mathieu Debuchy, and the French newspaper say he’s extended his current contract with a new four year deal that runs until June 2019.
Bellerin has made 17 appearances so far this season, scoring 1 goal, and has excited fans with his swashbuckling attacking and, after a difficult start, much more convincing defending.
His improvement has been obvious and one of the highlights of the season. Not that it should be a surprise as captain Mikel Arteta backed him to make the position his own back in September.
“I think he’s a top player,” said Arteta. “He’s going to be the right back of Arsenal for many years, in my opinion – providing he continues to progress in the way he has been doing.
“Mentally, he handles what is requested to play at the highest level. He’s got pace, technique and he’s a very positive guy.”
So, good news all round, and let’s hope he keeps improving.
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Hat-tip to Arnaud for the heads-up.
Good to see, top player, hopefully he’s learned from Cesc and co. about how much crap that Barca DNA stuff is and stays with us in the future.
Hopefully Akpom and Hayden amongst others to follow in his steps and become young stars for us as well.
His pace is the obvious first thing to love, but my favourite is his control, it always seems to be instant. His game awareness etc will come, he is so young.
Sign him up for longer than 4 years, I say.
To the chorus of Oh la la by the faces…
Hector Bellerin has enough pace,
To burn your house down,
Hector Bellerin has a bigger smile,
Than the Joker Clown.
The second part needs work…
Keep it simple mate. KC and the Sunshine Band will work a treat.
And the first…
All that ‘Barca DNA’ shite is a load of bollocks, but as he’s Catalan and was born in Barcelona I could understand if he wanted to play for them one day.
That said, they’re a bunch of cunts and I hope he stays for a good long while.
Today’s best news.
let’s all hope he doesn’t get influenced by those cunts at Barca like Cesc.
We are going to be the best team in England in 3 years. Mark my words
I reckon 2 years 😉
Redcurrant
I hope so too. But I go for more realistic 3 years
How about this – settled squad, 2 great/decent players for each position, no World Cup hangover, confidence from beating two of our main rivals this season.
That’s where we will be even if no leaver/additions to the squad. If we get one or more class additions or one or more Bellerins moving up (Akpom, Zelalem???) we will be very strong.
Why not next season?
I wonder where this leaves Jenkinson…
in West Ham
i hope him and jenko will be future rotation pairing… chambers can go on and be one of our center back choices or maybe even def. mid… i just think jenko should be loaned again next season to keep him fit, and then brought back a season after… the question is will debuchy remain fit and for how long…
Why would you say any player should be loaned next season, 4 months before pre-season even starts? Should Jenks not get his chance to compete?
true that my friend, but we must loan somebody… it’s either bellerin, jenko or chambers… chambers is also used as cover cb, and bellerin showed he can play first choice rb, let alone second choice to debuchy, so it gotta be jenko… i want him to be loaned, cause i don’t want him to be sold. he seems settled at west ham and they are planning a swoop. but i guess i am running my mouth to quickly.. que sera sera 😉
also, i just remembered how i was worried at the before the season started, when sagna departed, for our rb position… but then we brought in debuchy AND chambers, and loaned jenko, which was peculiar at least. the more that i think about it the less i think wenger or jenko himself see his future in the club… debuchy has at least 2 more seasons in him & jenko settled at whu, and bellerin is at least as good as jenko now, plus 4 years younger, and happy to be on the bench before he matures. chambers is also younger… Read more »
I don’t think we should sell Jenko, loan next season maybe. Alos if we needot Debuchy can cover CB we have two right backs. So to have one like Dubychy covering right back and CB and Jenko can play right back with HB.
One more year of loan and regular football will do Jenko the world of good.
Once we had a stuttering start to this campaign it meant every game even coming to Christmas was pressure filled as we needed to gain points. It meant we could not experment with players/positions as much as we should have if we had a stronger position. I would have really liked to have seen Chambers tried in a couple of positions…obviously CB and even as a deep lying midfielder to see how he coped. If he is not considerd specifically as a RB, we actually only have Bellerin and Debuchy so I am still not convinced Jenkinson should be let… Read more »
If Debuchy comes back from his injury and reclaim his spot, then I think a loan for Bellerin to a PL side next season would not be a bad idea. He has shown great promise this season but I do feel its still too early to have him as a permanent deputy for RB. He’ll need more exposure and experience and I am sure a host of clubs will be interested after his showing this term. Jenkinson’s Arsenal future seems a bit vague but credit to him, he has worked extremely hard so far for the Hammers. I reckon Arsene… Read more »
What do people think of our RB situation? It’ll be good to have Debuchy around for a few more years, and I would expect Bellerin to maybe have a few months of regression at some point given his age. Should Carl come back and, if so, in what role?
I think realistically for Debuchy’s age and now about a year of inconsistent play (so sad all of that) he could stand to be first choice RB for maybe another year or two, but with Bellerin’s meteoric rise, consistency, and regular improvement constantly snapping at the heels Wenger will (relatively) quickly look to Hector as first choice. Jenko would be BRILL to see return, but honestly he deserves regular football and no one here suggests that for him. I’m also certain part of the reason he’s with West Ham is because he didn’t forsee himself being a regular footballer for… Read more »
Good points cheers Harish
I would love Jenks (lifelong Arsenal fan) to come back and fight Bellerin for right back, if Debuchy starts to drop in form or is injured.
And his dad trained with Seb Coe (see Guardian article) as well as singing with Bonnie Tyler! Talented family.
If he doesn’t get carried away by the hype and stays down to earth with his attitude.then he has everything to become a successful right back for arsenal for many years to come..
not just that, if he continued to play consistently i see him to get a call up for Spain in a friendly game very soon.
Let’s keep him away from Spain…don’t want him mixing with those Barca disgustoids. You just know they’d try to put a red and blue shirt on him.
Especially since they need a RB…
He’s been immense for us. He’s very likely to have a dip in form at some point and let’s hope Wenger eases off a bit of training intensity so he doesn’t turn into a LANS. Gutted for Jenko though…
Excellent player, hard to call who has been most improved between he and Franny C.
Bit of a bitch name for a song tho!
He’s 19, runs a fast lap, speaks English better than Jamie Redknapp
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NAA
HECTOR BELLERIN, BELLERIN! HECTOR BELLERIN!
Urgh, get with it lads https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeqtAB1WgEw
It’s weird, i had actually forgotten we had Debuchy!
Anyone know what his recovery status is?
2-3 weeks.
Dunno if that was meant to be sarcastic, but it was a pretty fine effort.
The next Dani Alvez
Let’s bloody hope not.
Reminds me Ashley Cole, but I hope he is a loyal one, Arsenal legend in d making!!!
he reminds me of Philipp Lahm, very similar style and dribbling skills plus pace, so i think he can make the heights of Philipp Lahm and become one of the best RB in the world.
Disagree. Lahm is slower but has great sense of positioning and game awareness. Bellerin is more of a Jordi Alba type of fullback.
Lovin’ the Bellerin!
But you can see him becoming World Class before he’s 25 – and the Barcelona DNA shit will kick in and he’ll go back for his peak years there
What’s with all the negative feelings about Barca DNA? Has Bellerin once spoken anything about it? Cesc on the other hand repeatedly spoke of his desire to go back one day. For now I’m just staying positive and excited that we have one of the most electrifying young defenders in the world playing for the red and white!
I really hope Jenks stays. Debuchy will be 30 by the time next season starts, and having two great young right backs pushing and challenging each other can only be good for them and the club
I think Debuchy has been a class player for us this season when he played. Never really thought he was that good when he played for Newcastle and unfortunately for him, he didn’t get a proper run because of injuries. But he does have a few more seasons in him. Bellerin looks to be developing his raw talent that was seen a few years ago ( that’s why Wenger got him) but its up to him to fulfil that promise and to work hard and learn. He can be our main guy but in a few years. Jenkinson has heart,… Read more »
What a pile of drivel- Nobody taunted Wenger with “you can’t win anything with kids” jibe, Alan Hansen said it about Manchester United 15 years ago. And Alan Hansen was rightly taunted and jibed for saying it. What people taunted Wenger about was the debatable failure of his youth project during
the stadium move, during which time funds were limited and we didn’t win anything. I still wouldn’t say it failed though
Oh yes they have. Every time we signed a young player we got slated, as we needed a keeper, we needed a striker we needed a DM for now. The list of needs are always endless at Arsenal when we don’t win the trophys. The youth project hasn’t failed as we have produced a lot of world class players like Fabregas and Ramsey and Walcott and we have been able to retain many of them. That saved us a millions on transfer where it has been proven that just because someone is world class and cost millions, doesn’t mean that… Read more »
Wow
Hi, this is an Arsenal website populated by Arsenal fans. People’s opinions differ. Don’t tell them to go and support another club because you disagree with them, because that’s pretty silly.
“if you value trophys above everything else, well you are welcome to switch to supporting Chelsea” Didn’t say to go support Chelsea because he disagreed with me. My point was if people are that unhappy with Arsenals lack of trophys there are other clubs that would do anything to win the league, including risk the reputation and the financial health of the club, they could support instead. I respect every one has got an opinion here and thats why we read through and like to share ours too.
Still has a lot of learning to do. Jenks will go in the window I reckon. Shame to see him go, if he does. Good depth at RB when all fit. Debuchy, ‘Ector and Chambers if needed.
Does this work like Fifa? When a player is in great form they demand more wages and contract extension? Or Arsenal really wanted to have Bellerin?
I think it’s more that when someone is in great form the club realises they want to keep him long term, or at least get a lot of money for him if he leaves, so they offer a contract extension. Also, if a player’s status in the squad goes up, they should earn more money to keep things fair between players. At the start of the season he was probably on the same kind of money as someone like Hayden. Now that he’s played such a big part he’ll probably be on the same wages as, say, Sanogo, and getting… Read more »
Why it has come as a surprise to some that Bellerin has stepped up is beyond me. Wenger realised he needed to ensure that RB continued to be a key area of strength post Sagna. he made the correct decision in Debuchy who was in any case keeping Sagna out of France XI plus was a relatively cheap option blooded in the pl. but he also made this decision safe in the knowledge that he had a very good emerging RB in Bellerin. To hedge further, Wenger brought in Chambers (who is a natural RB at Southampton) mainly for his… Read more »
Everything I’ve seen out of Chambers so far suggests that he is NOT a natural RB for the BPL. He struggles against wingers with pace and 1v1 ability. He can play the position, but I think Jenko might be better than him at this position.
I would say he is more natural in CB and at 19, still has some filling out to do in the body department. He seems assured on handling the ball (a plus) and played decently there early in the season.
I haven’t seen him play DM yet, so I will hold off judgement.
Have to disgree with you there. Jenkinson is currently better than Chambers at right back and possibly even Bellerin at the moment. His crossing has always been quite good whenever he’s played and particularly for West Ham. Chambers sadly doesnt seem to have the pace to recover which is essential for a full back. Would be interesting to see what Arsene does with Jenks in the summer but hard to see him stay. Would love it if he did though. As a team we ve lacked those types of players for quite a bit of time. Utility players who play… Read more »
Everyone knew that the lad had great potential. But I think even Wenger is surprised at how well Bellerin has done this year. Wenger definitely didn’t think the guy was ready to play at the start of the season, as shown by the fact that he tried to make do with just 6 defenders until they dropped dead rather than use Bellerin before Christmas, leading to even Chambers looking overplayed. At some point he was finally forced to play Bellerin, and he did so well that he just kept playing. But if Wenger had been expecting that I’m sure Bellerin… Read more »
We’ve been handed two big bonuses this season in the way both Bellerin and Coquelin have advanced to become first team regulars in whom we have confidence. Hopefully, gone are the days when our only cover in certain positions automatically causes fear and panic. But more importantly whoever we bring in during the summer transfer window will have to be of indisputable star quality. In 2012 our ‘big money’ signings were Giroud, Monreal and Cazorla. In 2013 it was Mesut Ozil. In 2014 it was Alexis. And there’s no doubt this trend is going to continue. Which is why I… Read more »
Bellerin has been outstanding this season. personally, i think the RB position is now his to lose. I’m a big fan of Debuchy, but I already feel as though Bellerin is close to the same level defensively and offers more offensively, not to mention that Bellerin is improving every day whereas Debuchy is likely at or near his peak. Anyways, it’s another nice headache for Arsene to have. A bit dissapointed in only a 4 year deal though – would have preferred a deal to 2021 or more. I know we’ve been bitten before by locking up players-with-potential to long-term… Read more »
He’s not at the same level defensively. Particularly not in the air. One of Debuchy’s most impressive characteristics is how good he is in the air for someone his height. He has awesome aerial duel stats.
Don’t get me wrong, Bellerin is developing extremely well. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Debuchy, assuming he isn’t impacted in the long term by his injuries, is still more solid defensively on this season’s showing.
Absolutely amazing news
Damn man, 3 absolutely brilliant right backs in Debuchy, Bellerin and Jenkinson. To those saying jenko should stay at west ham, you obviously haven’t been watching him so I suggest you pipe down, Jenkinson is playing pretty damn good and would ‘run through a brick wall’ for Arsenal.
Love the Corporal but his future is not with us
It’s a lot more realistic than saying all three should fight for their place next season, or that we should loan out either Bellerin or Jenkinson for the three or so more good years Debuchy is likely to have in him.
He is the bollox! Well done
Lets face it, if he is here for 5 years and we are not winning anything, of course he will go back to Spain (suffice he continues to get better). The point is to win trophies and all this consternation over him going back to Barcelona will be moot. He is Catalan, born in Barcelona itself, so the only way to keep him is to win… but until that issue becomes a reality, lets just enjoy the kid while we have him.
I did think Jenkinson going on loan was a bit weird. Turns out Arsene knows.
Arsene likes to have one attacking and one defensive mined full back to balance the team. Hopefully, Jenks has improved and continues to improve the defensive side of his game. That way we can continue having the balance of Bellerin-Monreal or Jenks-Gibbs That gives us the chance to convert Debuchy to a CB, and he’ll be great there, because he’s just like Sagna – reads the game well, wins a lot of arial duels and is quick enough for a CB. The last piece of the defensive puzzle is converting Chambers to a DM. He’ll be able to learn tricks… Read more »
I love Jenkinson, Wilshere and Chesney so much .Just for the love and passion they show for the club.But it’s hard to argue that Corrporal can trump the brother of Jon Toral (Bellerin). I feel for him!!! He is better than Chambers ofcourse but third position in the pecking order is no good for a football player. I see him sold next season 🙁 and we get Upson for him in some deal.That’s how I see it.I see BFG and Upson as backups to the Gabriel and Kos next season.Hopefuly we get some competition for Coq too and if we… Read more »
So we have two potentially great young rb’s. One has barca DNA the other arsenal DNA . I’d rather we concentrate on the corporal who would never leave us n hope for the best with bellerin
DNA or no DNA… the lad is good, let’s enjoy the thrill.. He’d sign that Thing!!
Forget the DNA shit. We were hurt when Cesc left but that’s that
Bellerin is a good promising player. It’s great he signed a contract
Lets hope he fullfills his potential
Maybe we could send Chambers on loan ?