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Nacho Monreal Extends his Stay at Arsenal
My favorite Monreal moment
I can vividly remember when I did some research on Nacho Monreal when he just joined the club from SC Malaga in the winter of 2013. Kieran Gibbs was always injured and Andre Santos was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, with the last straw coming when he exchanged jerseys with Robin van Persie at half time, infuriating the Arsenal faithful.
It took Monreal a while go settle into English football and he had his moments when he really struggled, and I can’t think any further than the 6-3 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad where he was torn apart by Jesus Navas and co. With Gibbs still struggling for fitness and form, Monreal got a consistent run out and grew in confidence as the games came thick and fast.
As Monreal continued to provide improved performances, he showed his versatility when he adapted his game to play as a center back to aid his club in one of their world-famous injury crisis, and he was a class act in that position, making himself indispensable to the team. With the center backs returning to full fitness, Monreal retained his place at left back and it has been a losing battle for Gibbs to return to the starting XI due to the Spaniard’s consistent performances.
This season, Monreal, 29, has been an ever-present for the Gunners and he has featured in every Premier League game this season. He joined Arsenal with a four-and-a-half year deal worth in the region of £50,000-per-week so it was due to expire in the summer of 2017. The club is pleased to announce that the Spanish defender has signed a long term deal with the club.
His manager, Arsene Wenger, had some nice words to say about lil’ ol’ Ignacio,
“He is a very important player at the club because he can play left-back and center back. He has the consistency in his performances that is requested at the top level.
“Overall, his attitude has been absolutely fantastic on a daily basis since he arrived here. He’s 100 per cent committed and I think as well he has always improved since he has arrived and has shown that in many big games as well.
“He’s calm, focused and dedicated. He’s well-accepted and loved by his partners. He has the modest approach of a player who wants to give his best to the team. Everybody senses that and that’s why I think it’s important for the club to have that stability.
I’d written earlier about Monreal’s versatility but I’d touch a bit on his attitude. Since his arrival till this very moment, Monreal has been a model professional in carrying out his duties. On arriving at the club, he accepted his place behind the pecking order to Gibbs but it was down to him to prove to his manager that he was good enough to be No. 1 in the left back position. On international level, he’s also behind FC Barcelona’s Jordi Alba but Monreal has notched up just 16 caps for Spain and with his good run of form, Monreal should be in the 23-man squad for Euro 2016.
He’s one of the most, if not the most, underrated players in the team and you need to watch the lad play to value his importance to the team. The player himself has cited the reasons why extended his contract with the club,
“I’m really happy because my intention was to keep playing for Arsenal. I feel really good playing here. I have a good relationship with my team-mates and we keep improving year after year. I wanted to stay here and I could extend my contract. I would like to play here for many more years.
“The trust of the Arsenal fans is really important for us because they are helping us in every moment as we are fighting to win the Premier League. I met the boss three years ago and I have a really good relationship with him and I’m really happy with him. For these reasons I extended my contract.”
It’s good to know that we will have Monreal for years to come. In three-and-a-half seasons with the Gunners, he has made 112 appearances and scored two goals.
Sayonara.
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Rating Arsenal’s Defenders Performances in the 2014/15 Season
Arsenal conceded 36 goals in the Premier League (almost a goal per game), four goals in five FA Cup games on the road to the final, nine goals in 10 Champions League games and two goals in the only Capital One Cup fixture they featured in. This ultimately means that the Gunners averaged conceding at least one goal a game in every competition they played this season.
Gooner Daily analyses the performances of the defenders in the course of the campaign.
Nacho Monreal (37 appearances, one goal, six yellow cards)
Monreal has been a transformed player this season. When he arrived in January 2013, it took him a while to get a hang of things before he acclimatized to the rigors of the Premier League. He joined as Kieran Gibbs deputy but injuries to Kieran Gibbs paved the way for the Spaniard to get an extended run of games. This season, Monreal deputized as a center back when the club was faced in a defensive crisis and he played admirably in Laurent Koscielny’s absence.
With Kieran Gibbs suffering more fitness troubles, Monreal marauded the left back position with such confidence and made the role his own, even after Gibbs returned to full fitness. To crown up his efforts in the campaign, he scored a goal in the victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford – a goal any striker would have been proud of.
Rating: 8/10
Mathieu Debuchy (14 appearances, one goal, three yellow cards, one red card)
There was so much speculation about the right back that was coming in to replace Bacary Sagna when he left the club to join Manchester City’s bench. Names like Serge Aurier and Seamus Coleman were mentioned but Arsene Wenger opted for Newcastle’s Matt Debuchy that looked to settle in Arsenal like water off a duck’s back.
However, Debuchy suffered two long-term injuries on his ankle and his shoulder that just reduced him to a merger 14 appearances in his debut season with the Gunners. He showed off his temperamental side when he was sent off in the Champions League playoffs against Galatasaray but he managed to score his first Arsenal goal with his head when he featured in an unorthodox center back position when the Gunners visited Anfield.
With the emergence of Hector Bellerin and Carl Jenkinson returning from loan, Debuchy has it all to do if he wants to retain his status at the club’s primary right back next season.
Rating: 6/10
Kieran Gibbs (31 appearances, one goal, three yellow cards)
At the start of this campaign, Gibbs changed his jersey number to 3, which was vacated due to Sagna’s departure for the petro-greens. Gibbs had featured a career-best 41 times in the previous campaign and the assumption was that his injury problems are now behind him. He featured consistently as the season progressed and even managed to get on the score sheet with a vital equalizer against Anderlecht when it seemed as the Gunners were resigned to a defeat.
However, injury struck again and Gibbs lost his place in the team to Monreal. With the Spaniard in good form, Wenger chose not to feature Gibbs but handed him a couple of starts in the Cup fixtures. With Monreal ending the campaign on a high, Gibbs will face a battle in his hands to win his place back in the team. He has already stated that he’s ready to fight for his place. Such competition will be beneficial to Arsenal.
Rating: 6/10
Per Mertesacker (44 appearances, one goal, no yellow card)
With Mikel Arteta consistently out of the team due to injuries, the BFG has led the Gunners in almost every game he played. After featuring a career-high 52 times last season, the BFG joined his German side to Brazil and won the World Cup, which essentially meant that he didn’t get any time to recharge his batteries with Germany going into the latter stages of the tournament.
This season, the BFG has seen his ardent fans swing to the other direction as he put up some questionable performances with the Round of 16 clash against Monaco being his nadir. Nonetheless, he was efficient as always in his many games and he looked more at home when he featured alongside Laurent Koscielny. Injuries to the French defender saw Mertesacker play alongside the likes of Monreal, Calum Chambers and even Debuchy, but he remained steadfast in his duties.
Now that he has retired from international football, let’s see if his career can be prolonged like John Terry.
Rating: 7/10
Gabriel Paulista (seven appearances, no goal, two yellow cards)
In my honest opinion, it was a travesty not replacing Thomas Vermaelen when he left for FC Barcelona in the summer. Arsenal was just an injury away from disaster in central defense and it happened when Koscielny was out injured. Wenger acknowledged that set back and signed a relatively unknown center back from Villarreal, Gabriel Paulista.
After making his debut for the club in the FA Cup fixture against Middlesbrough, Gabriel featured in his first Premier League game that will forever be remembered for that tackle on Romelu Lukaku. His presence allowed the boss to alternate between his first-choice central pairing as the Brazilian settled in to life in North London.
I’d expect him to feature in more games next season, as well as being a good backup in any injury crisis.
Rating: 7/10
Laurent Koscielny (36 appearances, three goals, four yellow cards)
Koscielny has grown from strength to strength in the heart of Arsenal’s defense, making him indispensable to the team. He scored the opening goal of Arsenal’s Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace and when he suffered an Achilles injury, his absence from the squad was hugely felt. He made his return after several weeks and Mertesacker played better when his rightful partner was available.
Koscielny went on to score against Stoke and Leicester to take his tally to three for the campaign but his all-action, high-octane yet efficient style of play was exemplary all season long.
Rating: 9/10
Calum Chambers (36 appearances, one goal, eight yellow cards, one red card)
For what its worth, this is the first time in Chambers career that he has played this much games. Arsenal’s injury woes allowed him to get a run of games as a center back and he was lauded for his mature performances. He continued that good form and even scored his first professional goal against Burnley.
With Nacho Monreal featuring in the middle alongside Mertesacker, Chambers was drafted to right back and he struggled terribly in the defeat to Swansea. With more off form performances in the coming weeks which included a red card in the defeat to Stoke, he lost his place to Hector Bellerin and spent a considerable chunk of the campaign on the bench.
It’s going to be interesting to see if he’d feature regularly next season when everyone’s fit.
Rating: 6/10
Hector Bellerin (27 appearances, two goals, seven yellow cards)
Like Francis Coquelin, Bellerin has been one of the finds of the season. Injuries to several players paved the way for the young Spaniard to get his debut in the Signal Iduna Park at Dortmund and as the weeks progressed, he made the right back position his own, shoving off the threat of Chambers.
Bellerin has his raw reserves of blistering pace as well as a keen eye for goal, and this season, he found the back of the net on two occasions against Aston Villa and Liverpool. With Jenkinson returning from West Ham and Debuchy on his way back to full fitness, the battle for the right back spot will be very intense but Bellerin must be commended for the great shift he put this season.
Sayonara.
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Who Would Partner Mertesacker Against Hull?
Koscielny is out with an Achilles tendon problem.
‘Laurent Koscielny will not be available. He has an Achilles problem, which has got worse. He finds it difficult to play with it at the moment. You can only trust what the players says, he does not feel ready to play and will not play on Saturday. No [he will not need surgery]. – Arsene Wenger
The international break hit the Gunners hard with Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Tomas Rosicky all missing out on their national team games due to injury concerns. With the game against Hull around the corner, Arsene Wenger will have to make do with the squad at his disposal and according to the Telegraph, the Gunners boss would be handed a transfer kitty to invest in the squad in the winter.
However, with the game against Hull, some parts of the squad would pick itself. In attack for instance, Wenger would be sweating on the fitness of Danny Welbeck that picked up a knock in the England vs. Estonia game. Yaya Sanogo is still out injured but the Gunners can deploy Alexis Sanchez through the middle, thereby handing a player like Lukas Podolski a chance from the left wing. The German is disgruntled with lack of game time and there are rumors that he may walk through the exit door in January. Arsenal’s midfield has also been hit hard by injuries but Wenger can still manage to get a couple of players that would do the business for him tomorrow against Hull. However, the main problem lies in the defense.
Wojciech Szczesny had a great game for Poland in midweek against Germany and I’d expect him to start ahead of David Ospina. With Matt Debuchy injured and Calum Chambers suspended, Hector Bellerin is odds on to get the nod at right back, except a certain versatile Francis Coquelin comes to the manager’s mind. The main dilemma would be finding a befitting partner for the stand-in captain, Per Mertesacker. The BFG stayed at home and watched as his compatriots struggled in the qualifiers, losing to Poland and drawing with Ireland but frankly, that’s none of our business. *sips Lipton*. He recently spoke about how he chose to retire from international football to prolong his career with Arsenal and that was a decision that went down well with everyone connected with the club.
But with Koscielny injured and the auxiliary center back, Calum Chambers, also out due to suspension, Arsene Wenger has only two plausible options to make in finding Mertesacker’s partner.
One option would be to give the promising youngster, Isaac Hayden, another chance to strut his stuff and with the prospect of playing a striker like Nikica Jelavic (four EPL goals this season), the lad will have to be on his toes. Hayden’s only performance this season came in the Capital One Cup third round defeat to Southampton and he acquainted himself well on the night, forging a good partnership with Chambers.
The youngster is very confident in his own abilities and with Wenger being a manager that is never afraid to hand a chance to youth, Hayden might have an extended run of games with the Gunners having relatively easy fixtures coming up. One can only hope that Koscielny would be able to recover for his Achilles injury just in time for the home clash against Manchester United next month.
The second option would be to play Nacho Monreal in the unorthodox center back position, something the boss experimented with in preseason. Arsene Wenger has even spoken about his intentions to field him in that position when the chance arises,
“He can do well as a center back because he is intelligent, because he has a good sense of interception, because he reads the game well and is a good passer.”
Monreal is clearly below Kieran Gibbs in the pecking order for the left back position and he hasn’t played much football this season. A combination of Gibbs’ good form and Monreal’s back problem has seen the Spaniard play only four games this season and I’m sure that he’d fancy a chance to get a run-out in the first team, albeit as a center back.
Irrespective of who Wenger chooses, Arsenal should have enough in the tank to defeat Hull.
Sayonara.
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