Arsenal: Konstantinos Mavropanos the one we’ve waited for, but when?

Arsenal’s loss to Manchester United brought out the best in several young prospects, and Konstantinos Mavropanos made the statement we’ve been waiting for.

Arsenal’s loss to Manchester United was the most positive I’ve felt after a loss in ages. So many individual things went right, things that we haven’t seen go right with the first-team regulars, and it took a late, lucky Fellaini header to bail the hosts out with three points.

The biggest takeaway from the match, however, was the defensive solidity. This was Manchester United’s best of the bench. All of their attackers were on display and those that didn’t start came on as subs.

Yet both teams ended up with the same amounts of shots on target and when you look at chances created, it was a mere 11-7 in favor of the hosts.

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United had to settle for half-chances, because they couldn’t penetrate a defense that was being marshaled from in front by Granit Xhaka and from behind by the young duo of Calum Chambers and the new Greek favorite Konstantinos Mavropanos.

You won’t find a single poor assessment spoken of the Greek defender on social media, and that’s saying something. Mostly because, even in the few mistakes that he made, Mavropanos showed us something incredibly clear. He showed us that he is the defender that we have been waiting for.

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He was strong, brutish even, unafraid of contact and unfazed by fancy footwork or dance moves. He did not shy away from the physicality of Romelu Lukaku and, perhaps most importantly, he showed the defensive instincts that we have so long been waiting for.

Mavropanos looks to be a reactive defender, the kind that can sit in deep and lean up messes, and this stems from his intelligence, combined with his brute physicality. It’s like a young Mertesacker, but with the potential to not be as slow as a three-legged giraffe.

Which, correct me if I’m wrong, is the exact type of thing we’ve been waiting for.

Every one of our current defenders is an aggressive, ball-hawk defender with excellent on the ball abilities, but as such, they are prone to over-stretch themselves. Mavropanos does not look to be a risk to do the same.

That said, this was only one match, and while it was massively telling, and while the reports up until this point of his youth performances have told the same story, the question we now have to ask ourselves is when will he be ready?

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Arsenal needed a bonafide defender like him about eight months ago. Timing is not on his side, especially with a new boss incoming and a transfer window coming up, but if he puts in performances like that, he won’t need any help getting to the top.