Good morning from a warm sunny Dublin – and if that isn’t the final piece of proof that we’re living a crazy world where anything can happen, I don’t know what is. I’m just sorry that I have no crops for I believe sunshine is great for the growing of them. Ah well.
It’s very quiet from an Arsenal point of view, although there were some chaps involved in friendly action and such. One of them, Hector Bellerin, made his full debut for Spain last night, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3-1 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The BozHerz finished with 10 men after Emir Spahic was sent off for a clash with Cesc Fabregas. Do you remember a few years ago we were linked with him when he was playing with Montpellier? I do, because it’s customary when that happens to go on YouTube and watch a video to see what the player is all about. Oooh, look at those tricks. Ahhh, check out those flicks. Yaaay, listen to that terrible Europop shite soundtrack it’s got.
Spahic’s video was different. It was, essentially, a few minutes of him careering around the pitch, scything down the opposition, digging them in the back of the head, throwing in the odd Falcon Punch, and doing his utmost to fashion a football/MMA crossover sport. At Bayer Leverkusen he was banned for three months and had his contract terminated for headbutting one of the club’s own security guards who wouldn’t let his mates into some kind of VIP lounge.
His commitment to being a big nasty bastard is almost unparalleled. People say Arsenal are too nice. If we’d signed him that one player would have washed away our niceness quotient in one go. Anyway, I digress, this is not about Spahic, it’s about Hector. And the fact that he might end up in the Spanish squad for the European championships.
On Saturday night Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal left the pitch in tears after picking up an injury. Now, it’s not unusual these days to see footballers cry. It’s happening more and more often. In some cases it’s understandable, but I think mostly it’s a fashion like this insistence players have on including their children in everything. Yes, we get it, you have a mickey and you did something with it and this is the result. Bravo, you are truly special.
I digress again. The point I was trying to make is that perhaps Carvajal’s tears weren’t simply because he was unable to finish the biggest game in club football. Maybe he knew the injury was bad enough to keep him out of the European Championships, and after the win last night Vicente del Bosque, Spain’s manager, said, “We have two days until I name my list of 23 players. While we are waiting to hear from the medics [about Carvajal], Bellerin stays with us.”
If the news is bad for the Real Madrid man, then Hector’s rise will continue, and it got me thinking that he’s a young man on whom fortune is certainly smiling at the moment. In the 2014-15 season, he was due to go out on loan. Arsenal had bought Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle, and Calum Chambers was having a storming start to his career at the club having moved from Southampton that summer.
Then Debuchy picked up an ankle injury against Man City, and Chambers, as can happen to a young player, found it tough going. Bellerin was given a chance and although his full debut against Borussia Dortmund wasn’t brilliant, that was more a consequence of the team playing a like a pack of gimp-legged wastrels than anything else.
He grew week by week, but soon Debuchy was fit again, and back in the side. Bellerin dropped to the bench, and then once more the fates smiled on him in the shape of the Aldi Ibrahimovic, Marko Arnautovic. While Debuchy was off his feet, the Stoke man shoved him into the advertising hoardings, causing a dislocated shoulder and yet another lengthy injury.
Since then Bellerin has established himself as the first choice for Arsenal, and now injury has potentially opened up yet another door for him in the Spanish squad. Now, I’m not suggesting any impropriety here. I can’t see him sitting at home with Debuchy and Carvajal voodoo dolls, sticking pins in them and throwing them about the place cackling wildly, but some people just have things go for them.
I reckon he’d be a good guy to be around. Like, if you were getting on a flight with him, he’d get you an upgrade to first class. Or if you needed a table at popular, busy restaurant, he’d be the guy to go with. That kind of thing.
Obviously he’ll have to wait and see what happens with Carvajal, but it would be fantastic for him if he were to make the squad. What an experience to have at 20, and in terms of his development as a player it would good for us too.
Beyond that, the only thing happening over the course of the weekend was a link to Swiss international left-back Ricardo Rodriguez. He’s 23 and with uncertainty over the future of Kieran Gibbs, it looks more and more like we’re in the market for a left-sided defender. He’s just the latest in a string of players in which we’re rumoured to be interested, so keep an eye on this one.
We do have an Arsecast Extra for you later, if you have any questions or topics for discussion, please send to @gunnerblog and @arseblog using the hashtag #arsecastextra.
That’ll be available for you around lunchtime. Until then.
