Arsenal: Konstantinos Mavropanos is still here, everyone

Arsenal’s defense is in a shambolic state, but is there more hidden inside the club than is given credit for? I mean, Konstantinos Mavropanos is still here.

There’s no hiding the porous state of the Arsenal defense. After surrendering 50+ goals last year, they are well on track to doing the same this year. And while last year I was less than convinced that the solution was to fork out money on new players, this year that argument is harder to defend.

I have only just finished writing about how Jerome Boateng would be a worthy investment, and he isn’t the only potential option to help this club stop the bleeding. But given that this is in the midst of a “rebuild,” do we really want to go blocking long-term solutions?

Sometimes I forget that Konstantinos Mavropanos is still at the club. The young Greek defender was a big deal signing when he arrived last January and when he hit the first team at the end of the year, we saw all the things we wanted to see.

He was like a young version of Sokratis, not just defending stoically, but getting under the skin of the opposing attackers. I still remember how much he was cheered every time he laid a firm tackle on an opponent, or even just touched the ball.

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He hasn’t been able to feature all year due to what has been a much more serious injury than what was originally expected, and as of yet, he is still only just returned to training. Meaning that, at best, he might be ready to go by February, at which point many fans will be hoping a new defender will already be at the club.

But is it so wrong to want to hold off on any potential transfers in the name of giving Mavropanos a chance? I’m not so sure it is. Again, we are in the midst of a rebuild, and we need to keep that in mind. The point of this isn’t to jump to the top of the table immediately. It’s to build success for the long haul, and Mavropanos accomplishes that if given the chance to be a constant presence in the first team from the moment he returns from injury.

You block him with signings and suddenly you’re playing more for the present than the future, and that’s a bit counterintuitive to what a rebuild is all about.

I’m not saying we don’t need to sign someone, I’m just saying that we don’t need to sign the entire world’s worth of quality defenders. Holding is still here, he will be back. Mavropanos is still here, he’s almost back. There are more beyond that too, Medley for instance, or the return of Chambers.

I understand the lack of patience from fans, hell, I’m right there with you. But Mavropanos alone is enough to wait for.