Arsenal and Daniel Ballard: You had me at “centerback”

Arsenal need help at centerback, and that’s all I need to know to get excited about the quick rise of Northern Ireland’s Daniel Ballard. Bring him up!

Arsenal‘s defense has been one of the key talking points of the season, as Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis have brought stability to what was once the flimsiest piece of the team. But for all the stability they brought, they did not bring longevity, and Shkodran Mustafi has not been a big help in that facet either.

Rob Holding going down for the year put a big dent in the “who’s going to lead this club’s defense into the future?” question and I swear, Konstantinos Mavropanos must have insulted Unai Emery’s mother or something, because he’s been nowhere near the first team or the youth set-ups, and this coming after he showcased quite strongly for the first team last year, not to mention Sokratis saying that Dinos was going to be better than him.

Then there was Zech Medley – big, strong, athletic and perhaps most importantly, left-footed. But Medley has not been a big feature with the first team or the U23s.

Daniel Ballard, meanwhile, has played more than Medley and Mavropanos combined, has captained the club to a Youth FA Cup final, and got his first call-up to the senior version of the Northern Ireland team, for the 2020 Euro qualifiers.

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Steve Morrow has been effusive in his praise of the young man, citing the praises of Freddie Ljunberg as well, and at just 19 years old, maybe we have someone else that we can point to when asked the question “who is going to lead this club into the future?”

It’s a question that has been nagging for so long, and with links to Matthijs De Ligt and Daniele Rugani (again), it’s clearly on the minds of a lot of people. This defense needs to get younger, and it needs to do so quickly. I thought that Mavropanos would be the leader of that movement, but clearly I’ve been wrong, at least thus far.

The links to De Ligt aren’t going anywhere. Chances are he’s just too far beyond our realm, as sad as that is to say. And we’ve been linked with Rugani for ages. Nothing has ever come of it.

So give us Ballard. I have to admit I haven’t seen much of the youth club this year, but with Morrow, Ljunberg and his nation attesting to his abilities, all I had to know was that Ballard was a centerback and my interest has been piqued.