Arsenal: Krystian Bielik Far From Center Half Answer

Arsene Wenger has spoken of his intention to train Krystian Bielik as a center half. While this may reap long term rewards, he is far from the answer to Arsenal’s immediate defensive problems.

Arsenal are in the midst of a center half crisis. In a position that was seen as one of the weakest of the whole squad before the summer, Arsenal have seen a long time starter and stalwart of the position suffer a knee injury that could see him out of action til 2017.

Per Mertesacker’s injury has thrown the position into dis-array – not that it was a particularly stable and confidence instilling aspect of the squad in the first place. With Laurent Koscielny, the other established first team center half, likely to miss at least the first week due to being given an extended break after his international excursions with France in the European Championships.

Consequently, Arsenal are looking at a starting pair of Gabriel Paulista, a man who’s verdict has not yet been decided at best, and either Calum Chambers or Ron Holding. Or that was what he had originally thought. There are now two dark horse possibilities with one peaking my interest especially.

These two possibilities involve Wenger’s favorite past time; altering the natural positions of players in an attempt to unlock their full potential. Both currently ply their trade as big, strong, physical defensive midfielders. However, Wenger sees both Francis Coquelin and Krystian Bielik as possible answers to Arsenal’s center half solution.

On the potential of Bielik, Wenger stated:

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"“Bielek has all the qualities and ingredients to be a top level centre-back. The one thing he is missing is the experience in this position because he came to us as a central midfielder, but I converted him into a centre-back because I felt he can play the type of football we want to play as a centre-back. Many times this is a position for experienced players because you pay for every mistake with a goal in this position, in the Premier League. What I have try to do with him this season is to work on his positional play and improve him, and give him some games. If in December, he is not ready, we will try and get him to play somewhere.”"

While Bielik certainly has the natural ability to play, and play well, at center half, he is simply not the answer for Arsenal’s problems in the here and now. And make no mistake, their problems are very much in the here and now.

The biggest worry comes in Wenger’s next sentence, where he compares fellow young defenders Rob Holding and Calum Chambers with Bielik, alluding to the possibility that one of them may inherit the second center half position in Mertesacker’s absence. Wenger states that he will “have to make a decision on who is the closest to the position.”

Next: Arsenal's Predicted Opening Day Starting Eleven

While all three may well be talented players and may well develop into the future of Arsenal’s back four, none are ready for an extended run in the first team. The depth is there, the quality is not, and however much I love to watch the development of young players, sometimes the short term must come first, and this is a clear example of such a scenario. Investment is needed, and it is needed right now.

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