Arsenal: Hector Bellerin the man to rally around

Hector Bellerin gave an inspirational message of unity this week. The Arsenal right-back is the man that the club — and the supporters — should rally around.

It has long been a criticism of the Arsenal squad. A lack of leadership. Just two weeks ago, as Sky Sports rolled out another legend to slate the current running of the club, Tony Adams was again asking where the characters in the dressing room are.

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In fairness to Adams, while it is a tired old question that has been pitted towards this squad for over a decade, it is a justified one to ask. Sadly, there are not many characters, presences, leaders in the squad, and it has hurt the team this season.

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As has been made abundantly clear with the debacle of the captaincy, Arsenal do not possess a leading, inpsirational, rallying individual, someone who the club and fans can unite behind. This, consequently, helps add to the toxic atmosphere that has defined the Gunners over the past two years. However, if there was to be someone of this leading ilk, perhaps Hector Bellerin might be the best-suited.

Bellerin has stepped into a veteran role in recent months. He has helped bridge the growing chasm between the supporters and the club, he captained the team superbly in a 5-5 draw at Liverpool, and he seems to be able to connect with the club and the fan base in a way that few of his teammates can. He just gets the club, and he also has a self-awareness to recognise that he can enact change because of that.

Speaking this week prior to Arsenal’s return to action against Southampton on Saturday afternoon, Bellerin gave an extremely positive and hopeful plea to the club and supporters to be unified as the team looks to turn around their recent struggles:

"“I think it’s important as a club, as fans, as everything [to know that] being divided is never the way forward. Everyone demands different things, everyone demands different changes, but I don’t think that’s the way. I think the [right] way is accepting who we are, what we have, getting everyone together, supporting each other, and that is the way that we can reach our goals <…> That is what we need, not to start pointing fingers and blaming someone for doing this, for doing that. We’re a club, we’re a team, we’re a family. What we need is to be there for each other.”"

Admittedly, these words can sound a little empty at times. And they have come through official streams. Bellerin is hardly going to tell the fans to ‘f*ck off’ through the club’s website. Who would be stupid enough to do that? Nevertheless, it is nice to see a player try to connect the fans to the club, to close a growing gap that is leaving an increasingly pejorative feeling around the Emirates.

Arsenal need a leader. They have done for over a decade. Maybe Bellerin, then,  is the man to step into that void.