Arsenal: Mateo Musacchio Reunion A Slick Play

Arsenal may be looking for a slick defensive fix in Mateo Musacchio. He and Gabriel Paulista teamed up for a fantastic defense once, why not again?

Arsenal’s search for defensive reinformcents has taken them back to La Liga. In particular, to Villareal. Again.

It seems like just yesterday that Arsenal was wrapping up their first Villareal defender in Gabriel Paulista. Conveniently enough there may be another defender from that very source yet again.

Villareal were in the Spanish Segunda Division in 2012. They gained promotion by surrendering the second least goals of any other team. Thanks to starting, long-time center back Mateo Musacchio. But La Liga was a different monster, so Villareal went out and made a crucial signing – Gabriel Paulista.

The Brazilian fit in immediately as Musacchio’s partner and lifted Villareal to a sixth place finish. In the process, the Villareal defense gave up just 44 goals, good for second best outside of the top four. It was a drastic improvement.

Then there was the 2014/15 season. Villareal built upon a solid defensive season by one-upping their own defensive elegance. Still in sixth place, Villareal emerged as one of the five La Liga teams to give up less than a goal a game.

That season, Villareal showed what they were capable of. Against the five teams that finished above them, including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Villareal went 1-3-6. Not the greatest return, I’m sure you’re thinking. But in terms of goals, Valencia hung with them, scoring 14 goals and surrendering 17. Again, nothing to write home about, but it is impressive for a newly-promoted team.

A lot of that credit goes to the center back combination that Villareal put together. Mateo Musacchio and Gabriel were an athletic, proactive pair in the 2013/14 season. Villareal’s defense has since improved and they have pushed Musacchio into the background. Freeing him up for, you guessed it, Arsenal transfer speculation.

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Arsenal already locked up Gabriel last January, but they left behind Gabriel’s defensive mate, Musacchio. Apparently, leaving him behind was the end to his starting tenure at Villareal. Musacchio has only started 24 matches in the past two years with Villareal. However, he has maintained his positive, proactive style, averaging over three interceptions per 90 minutes of play.

Which, strangely enough, is higher than he averaged when Gabriel was still around. Meaning that, at 25 years old, Musacchio is improving and he needs to stretch his legs a bit in a starting eleven.

So why not Arsenal? Not saying he would walk right in and pair up with Gabriel again, but having the option is a nice fallback. And it’s not like they would have a huge learning curve. They have played together before. Successfully. It couldn’t be any worse than the mad science experiments, trying to fit Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista into a defense and calling it complete.

Next: Jose Mourinho Complicates Things

Musacchio is a solid option. Under £7m for someone who may bring out the best in Gabriel? Absolutely. It’s nothing to bank on, but it’s an option. And Arsenal was starved for options last year.

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