As a young player you often have to be very patient and that sentiment certainly applies to Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Signed in January, the physically imposing Greek defender has had to bide his time playing for the U23s, while he has also struggled with injury in recent weeks but all of his hard work finally paid off when he was selected to start against Manchester United last weekend.
Mavropanos certainly didn’t look out of place as he produced an assured performance at Old Trafford, demonstrating both his strength in the air and his composure in possession.
That Mavropanos was so impressive didn’t really come as too much of a surprise when his displays for the U23s are taken into account.
Since joining the club the centre-back has frequently caught the eye at youth level and in first-team training sessions, yet, with several centre-backs ahead of him he has found it difficult to get much of a look in.
Now, though, things could change significantly with Mavropanos having, temporarily at least, edged ahead of Rob Holding in the pecking order, as evidenced by the fact that he travelled with the squad to Madrid this week while the Englishman didn’t.
With Laurent Koscielny out injured, Mavropanos will hope that he is afforded further opportunities with the senior squad in the three remaining Premier League fixtures.
It is difficult to envisage exactly what will happen with Mavropanos next season, especially with a new manager coming in, and he can’t be expected to perform as well as he did against United in every single game.
The initial signs are certainly encouraging, though, and Mavropanos will now be determined to push on even further.
Pre-season will certainly be very important for his development and in terms of integrating him further into the first-team squad, and Mavropanos could have the opportunity to test himself against clubs of the calibre of Atletico Madrid this summer.
Whatever level he plays at, Mavropanos remains calm under pressure and is capable of dealing effectively with any task that he faces.
It will be intriguing to see whether he can push on further next season and perhaps eventually challenge for a regular place in the starting line up.
For now his intention will be to finish the season as strongly as he can and increase his overall reputation even further.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Play him for the rest of the season. There is nothing to lose.
allegri could make him a beast
Chamber’s was superb against atletico so the right manager could really make great use of these 2
The ingredients are certainly there. As they are for Rob Holding. And along with our young prospects at the center-back position, we do have some notable young players elsewhere in the squad and in the system. We need the right manager to refine this talent into good contributors for the senior side (if they truly have that quality about them). But at the same time, I also hope that the new manager doesn’t avoid bringing in talent from outside to play above the young talent if needed. We can’t rely on the young guns day-in-day-out yet. And even if we… Read more »
Why not play him and chambers together in the remaining games with Ainsley at right back.
AMN is uncomfortable at full back
Like you said. Whatever it takes we have to get a major center back whoraises our three young defender and help them to get more consistence.
AMN is uncomfortable at full back, what game have you been watching? He plays better in the middle of the park but make no mistake about it he plays full back better than bellerin, now if that’s him being uncomfortable. I’ll take that over Bellerin being too comfortable
Mavropanos is younger version of Kompany minus his hair. The new manager Viera will surely keep him with new CB toby alderweild from spuds together with Holding forming the new Invincible 3-5-2 lineups.
LOL, Vieira is not going to be the next manager at Arsenal. Nor should he be.
And the only way Alderweirald is joining us is if he pulls a Sol Campbell and joins us on a free, because S***s are not selling him or anyone to us. While I would LOVE that, Alderweirald is not about to be out of contract for at least another 2 years, IIRC.
The first gem Sven has uncovered?
I really liked the look of him, particularly his pace, but I remember feeling exactly the same way about Johan Djourou when he first burst out of the reserves. I have a feeling this one might end up differently but won’t put too much hype on him just yet.
I believe the next bunch of CD will perform better simply because the philosophy and mentality of the whole team will change. Wenger insisted on leaving the defense exposed because he had a different philosophy. So many ex defenders “suffered” at Arsenal…
I’m also hoping Mavros rise will give some opportunities to other youths, particularly Shaef and Beilik, with the new manager hopefully restoring them back to DMs and ending Wenger’s process of turning physically imposing ball-playing midfielders into CBs. As it stands, we have too many youth prospects at CB that even if they all had world class potential, sheer competition would mean some fall by the wayside, whilst still yet to have a proper DM in midfield (I still regarded Ainsley as a CM box to box tbh), so might as well give Shaef and Beilik a chance at their… Read more »
Where is Vlad ‘the impaler’ Dragomir
Impaling
Flirting with ST in the U23s atm.Been more prolific there but still get the feeling CAM is where he belongs..
Don’t understand why he’s so far down the pecking order, as well as holding, it’s not like we have world class CB’s who have been solid all season, it’s actually the opposite and I would like to see him and Holding play together for the rest of the season as I believe they are up to it