Cristhian Mosquera to Arsenal: Spanish centre-back has potential to keep William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes on their toes | Football News

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One of the best indicators of the quality of Cristhian Mosquera can be found in the number of minutes he played. Since he was drafted in the Valence team at the age of 19 in August 2023, he started 70 championship games out of 72 possible.

In the probably the most difficult position on the tactically field, and with all the pressure to play for one of the biggest clubs in Spain while they were sailing in a turbulent period, the young central defender was considered Undroppable by two different managers.

Its total of 6,394 minutes played in the last two seasons is the highest by anyone who aged 21 or less in the first five leagues in Europe. The volume of playing time highlights reliability and robustness. He also gave arsenal a lot of contenders.

Obviously, they loved what they saw, and they were not the only ones, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig also said they followed it.

Spain U21 International is expected to go to Arsenal with a reputation for one of the most promising young central defenders in Europe, its appeal hung by a relatively low price during the last year of its contract with its childhood club.

He tested himself against some of the best attackers in the world in Laliga, with an exceptional performance against Real Madrid at Bernabeu in April, when he helped to serve Kylian Mbappe while Valencia won a victory at the end of 2-1.

It corresponds to the bill as a high potential player with both experience and the ability to develop more. He is on the right but, having played on both sides and even on a back three, he is sufficiently adaptable to provide competition to Gabriel Magalhaes as well as William Saliba.

His physical qualities are catchy. Mosquera has an imposing setting at 6 feet 2 inches, but it is also fast and agile, with long legs and a talent to gain possession proper but forcefully. He rarely commits faults and is also composed in possession.

There are also areas to improve. Mosquera possessed a higher ground floor success rate than all Arsenal central defender options last season at 70.7%, but, despite its size, it ran out for a 45.2%aerial duel success.

He always learns after being 21 years old in June, it is therefore hardly surprising that certain elements of his game are always raw.

“He is a player who has shown great potential in a short time,” said a former staff member of the Valencia Detection and Analysis Department Sky Sports. “It has become a very important to us and contributed a lot despite its age.

“He needs to work on certain key aspects, such as his decision -making. He is intense and aggressive in the way he defends, but sometimes he needs to choose the right times and understand when it would be better to recover or hold his position.

“For a league like the Premier League, its aerial play is not a big force, but it is fast on the cover, in a single VS and when it goes to its own goal.”

Mikel Arteta and his coaches hope to exploit the forces of Mosquera while perfecting his aerial game in the same way that they have made his future Saliba teammate.

A weakness when he arrived at the club, he became an area of force for the international of France. Only Ben White posted a higher aerial success rate than him at Arsenal the last mandate.

Of course, the context is essential when it comes to evaluating players.

The same source of Valencia mentions that Mosquera had certain problems to defend the sets, for example, but puts them to a commitment to the zonal marking which collectively caused team problems, in particular under their former manager Ruben Baraja, who was replaced by Carlos Corberan in December.

“The type of zonal marking that he found difficult requires specific tactical principles, such as the domination of space, the positioning, the interpretation of the positions of passage and shooting, by coordinating with teammates on the place where their different areas overlap.

“The marking of man to man requires a set of different principles, things like watching the ball and your opponent simultaneously, physical contact, coordination with teammates to exchange opponents, adjusting the marking patterns according to the most dangerous players, blocking the races, identifier of runners from the outside of the box.”

In other words, a problem in Valence may not have as much importance at Arsenal. Their privileged hybrid approach, where some players are invited to defend Zonally and others are invited to bring man to man from the sets, should be better suited to Mosquera.

Arsenal will also be encouraged by the development of his death.

Mosquera provided more responsibilities in the Valence accumulation game last season, on average more keys and 90 minutes than in the previous campaign. He also sent a higher percentage of passes and finished a higher percentage, displaying an overall precision rate of 91.2%.

“In terms of rear game, it has improved a lot with the arrival of Carlos Corberan and with its promotion to the U21 in Spain,” added the source of Valencia.

“He does not have the level of other central defenders like Pau Torres, who are really good in this area, but he reduced the number of errors he made. He provides more fluidity in possession and now has the courage to move forward to open ways.

“He is not necessarily a player to eliminate opponents by breaking the lines with his passes, but he improves. He adds more speed to his death and he does not give the ball as much.”

Like Christian Norgaard, who will serve as a replacement for Martin Zubimenddi, and additions expected Viktor Gyokerres and Noni Madueke, who will provide competition for Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli respectively, Mosquera is finally another signature intended to add a depth to the Arsenal team.

But he also has an exciting potential and, even having just been 21 years old, enough experience behind him to suggest that he could intervene if necessary and keep Saliba and Gabriel on their guard.