Having just signed Gabriel Magalhaes, Arsenal are bracing themselves for the departure of a defender to Ligue 1 just as they brought one in from there. According to Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein, Paris Saint-Germain are in talks with Arsenal over Hector Bellerin and have made an official offer.
PSG Make Offer for Hector Bellerin
Former Barca Golden Boy Who Got Away
Bellerin was born just outside of Barcelona, so naturally, he played for their youth teams as a child. He spent eight years at the famed La Masia academy before making the switch over to London.
He was considered the heir to Dani Alves for a time, and getting rid of him was seen as a costly mistake by the Barcelona board. In fact, they even tried to get him back several years ago as he was breaking into the Arsenal first team.
But the Gunners also saw him as a big part of their future and decided to keep him at all costs, and the Blauraganas instead signed Nelson Semedo from Benfica.
Bellerin’s career has slowed down since then, though. He remained a part of the starting lineup for the next few seasons, but then injuries and inconsistency created his downfall.
Injury-Plagued Years for Bellerin
In the past two seasons, he has missed a total of 42 Premier League games through injury, especially with an ACL rupture causing an extended spell on the sidelines.
It all began when he suffered a calf strain in December 2018. He was out for a month, and not even two full games after he came back, he suffered the big one, the ACL rupture.
The injury kept him out for ten whole months, and it stunted his development. He then came back and played three games before another injury, his hamstring this time, which kept him out for two more months.
Since then, he has played in most of the games, some from the start, but Mikel Arteta began losing faith in him as the season progressed. For the last three games of the season, Bellerin didn’t even make the team, although there were suspicions of yet another injury.
He is clearly injury-prone, but he could well make a comeback for PSG, provided the move goes through. There is no official agreement as of yet, but Arsenal are willing to sell and the French side are willing to pay.
Bellerin could get another chance in Paris, and the chance to link up with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe may turn out to be too good to turn down.
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