Arsenal: Hector Bellerin exit a motivational good

Hector Bellerin is being strongly linked with a move to former club Barcelona. Well, his exit may actually be a motivational good for Arsenal, a club that often needs pushing before it jumps.

There are many positions that Arsenal are comfortable in. If true greatness is not the real target and there is a happiness and comfort in settling for above-average, then, actually, the squad is in fairly decent shape. Obviously, that is not what the fans want, nor what the owners, the board or Arsene Wenger protest to strive for. But the point still stands: in many areas, this is a decent collection of players.

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And that, actually, has been a problem. Such are the hesitancies of Wenger and the club to invest in the transfer window, that if they can find a reason not to spend, then they won’t spend. Often times, that reason has been the presence of a perfectly adequate player already in the squad.

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But to win titles, challenge for trophies and compete at the highest level, ‘perfectly adequate’ players are not enough. How many ‘perfectly adequate’ players do Manchester City have in their starting XI? And so, for Arsenal to improve at these positions, they need to be pushed before they will ever jump. That is where Hector Bellerin enters the fray.

The Spaniard is the subject of growing rumours linking him with a departure from North London. Juventus have been widely mentioned as a possible destination, as has his former and boyhood club Barcelona. Whether these reports are valid or not, it is a good possibility that Bellerin leaves this summer. A few seasons ago, that would have been a travesty. But now? Well, it might be a motivational good.

If Bellerin were to depart, it would force Arsenal into the transfer market to find a replacement. Replacing your star players is not usually a good way to go about assembling a squad and building a team. You want to supplement, not succeed, them.

However, in this scenario, Bellerin, who is a star by default, is not the standard of player that leaves a gaping hole if he were to leave. In all reality, Bellerin has been poor this season. While he may boast all of the natural tools that move one to believe that he could yet develop into the type of player that is worth keeping hold of, his production on the pitch says something very different.

Positional errors when defending, a softness in the challenge, a wayward, misguided, inconsistent quality in his delivery. All of these shortcomings have conspired to a campaign that has exposed many of the holes in his game, holes that may not be coverable.

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So, if Bellerin were to leave, it might force Arsenal to sign not a ‘perfectly adequate’ replacement, but a fully-fledged star. That is how title-winning teams are built, and however far away the Gunners may be at this point, that, at the end of the day, is the ultimate aim.