3 returning loan players who have a part to play next season

2. Daniel Ballard

Arsenal’s once-fragile defence became one of their biggest strengths last season. In addition to a clear upgrade in personnel, there is a balance to the backline. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are consistently stable and rarely beaten off the dribble, Gabriel is dominant in the air and Ben White boasts an exceptional level of comfort on the ball.

Injuries certainly hit the defence the hardest. Tierney’s woes are drifting into perpetuity, while Tomiyasu endured a difficult first season on the injury front. When fit and available, Arsenal has one of the best defences in the league. However, Arteta must not look at this and sit back comfortably.

While the positions of centre-backs and full-backs thrive on stability of selection, there must always be a competition for places. One has only to look to Liverpool to see an example of this. Ibrahima Konate came into an already formidable defence with Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip not to merely serve as a backup, but to push for a starting berth.

William Saliba is the name on everyone’s lips. Yet Daniel Ballard is not an option to be scoffed at. The academy star has racked up an impressive amount of minutes at Blackpool and Millwall in the past two seasons. At an age where breaking into the first team either at home or on loan is already difficult, he has not only started a surprising amount of games, he has played well in those games.

Arteta has installed a very specific and technically demanding style of play to the Emirates. There are questions about Ballard’s ability on the ball but at only 22 years of age, he can be coached into improving this side of his game. Ballard possesses an incredible amount of first team experience at his age and would only improve with game time at Arsenal next season.

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