Arsenal: Ricardo Rodriguez – Perfect Opposite Wing To Bellerin

Wolfsburg’s attacking full-back Ricardo Rodriguez would make the perfect pair with Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin. Arsenal should pursue the Swiss international.

VFL Wolfsburg’s Swiss international left back Ricardo Rodriguez is the subject of interest from Arsenal, according to multiple reports that started with a story from Sky Sports’ transfer centre last week.

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The 23-year-old has been playing consistently at Wolfsburg for five seasons, but it was the 2013/14 campaign where he stepped into the European spotlight and earned himself a place in Switzerland’s 2014 World Cup side that was cruelly eliminated by Angel Di Maria with two minutes to go in the round of sixteen.

An attacking full-back, Rodriguez began to prove his worth in 2013/14 by contributing to Wolfsburg’s second-tier European attack featuring players like Kevin De Bruyne and Ivica Olic. He was a part of fourteen goals that season, best among Bundesliga defenders – and then the following season he also led the league in goals plus assists for defenders with ten (six of which were goals, Kevin de Bruyne did all the assisting).

This season he had a bit of a dip in stats across the board, partially due to Wolfsburg’s loss of key players and also due to the rest of the Bundesliga waking up to his talents.

The Swiss left-back is an extreme danger from free kicks as well as being a pinpoint crosser. When Wolfsburg were a team that exploited the flanks much more (Kevin De Bruyne’s Wolfsburg side), Rodriguez was a constant threat playing balls into Dutch poacher Bas Dost.

Now that they possess technical forward players like Julian Draxler and Max Kruse, they create their goals in the final third. Due to this change in strategy, perhaps manager Dieter Hecking will consider offloading him for a hefty price tag.

The price tag is no £100m for Paul Pogba, but a €20m fee is the minimum Arsenal can expect to hand over for the Swiss international’s services. Considering Arsenal’s current state of affairs in the back line with Spanish full-backs Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin – one of whom is much better going forward than the other – Rodriguez could add something to the team that hasn’t been present before.

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As we all saw in 2015/16, current Arsenal “left-back” Kieran Gibbs’ position has floated about all over the left flank, and more than ever Gibbs has been revealed as, well, not a real defender. Rodriguez is a solid tackler, making 1.5 tackles across 24 appearances in this Bundesliga but more impressively, 3.8 tackles per game in his four matches in EURO 2016, showing his capabilities.

In the Bundesliga, the 23-year-old was also above 50% in percentage of headed duels won and successful take-ons. While only being successful in 43% of his tackles across the season the left-back is still clearly a capable ball-winner on the left side of the pitch – and that is hugely important against top Premier League wide men like Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez and Chelsea’s Willian.

Rodriguez is not only more capable than Kieran Gibbs going forward, but he has the potential to develop under Arsene Wenger into a tackler just as capable as Nacho Monreal.

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With the pair at his services, Wenger would be able to attack from both wings using full-back overlap – and that’s a deadly ability in fast-paced leagues like the English Premier League. Considering the lack of an inflated price tag for the defender, it could be a very solid buy for Arsenal.