Arsenal: Hector Bellerin doesn’t get to choose

Hector Bellerin has insisted that he will be at Arsenal next season, even with Arsene Wenger no longer at the club. However, given his form the past two seasons, the Catalunian isn’t really in a position to choose.

It has been a rough couple of years for Hector Bellerin. Breaking onto the scene after Bacary Sagna departed in 2014, taking advantage of Mathieu Debuchy’s prolonged, nagging injury problems, the Catalunian quickly established himself as Arsenal’s first-choice right-back. And rightly so. He was excellent.

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But since that time, the young defender has never quite kicked on in his development as was initially hoped. The last two seasons have been underwhelming, to say the least, and although he is still an everpresent figure in the starting XI, there are growing questions about whether he deserves to be.

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There have also been questions about his future. Coming from Barcelona, there have been consistent rumblings that he may return to Camp Nou. And given the now outgoing Arsene Wenger will not be with the team next season, it is fair to doubt whether Bellerin, who has always had a very close relationship with Le Professeur, seeing him very much as a father figure as he helped tailor his game in those ever so impressionable younger years, would want to stay. But for Bellerin, though, there is no doubt. He is returning next season:

"“I’ve got a long contract, I have been in London for a very long time, this is what I call my home right now. There is nothing else I am thinking of, for the summer. We have the World Cup, I don’t know if I will be called up or not [to Spain], that is something we will need to wait and see. If I get given the chance then I will be really happy for it. Apart from that I am sure I will be coming back here next pre-season.”"

However, I am not sure that Bellerin is in a position to dictate his future. The context has changed. No longer is he the blossoming right-back that the whole world wants to sign and Arsenal are desperate to keep. Actually, he is, at least to some extent, expendable, presuming that an adequate replacement can be recruited.

And with a new manager still set to come to the club, likely with new ideas, new systems, new opinions on every single player in the squad, the assurance of the manager’s liking of him no longer exists for Bellerin. Who knows what the new manager thinks of him and his contributions.

Does that mean the Bellerin does not get a choice? Of course not. It is his life and if he wants to stay in north London, then he is more than welcome to. But he is not in the same position of power that he was two years ago. His depreciating form has altered the context. No longer does he get to dictate.

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Everything hinges on the opinion of the new manager. No one knows what he will think about any of the players. But until that time comes, there is only a select few, special players who dictate their terms. Bellerin is not one of them.