Hector Bellerin’s potential Arsenal exit this summer poses more questions than one.
As revealed by football.london last summer, the Spaniard was at crossroads in regards to his future at the Emirates Stadium, questioning whether or not he wanted to be part of Mikel Arteta’s long-term plans in north London.
However, Bellerin elected to stay with Arsenal and has remained the undisputed right-back option, racking up 27 appearances across all competitions this season amid a battle with Cedric Soares.
But, according to a report by CBS Sports, the 25-year-old may not be at the club next season as it’s claimed the Spaniard is keen to test himself outside of the Premier League.
Video Unavailable
Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and at least two Serie A clubs are said to be monitoring Bellerin’s situation with a view to making a potential bid in the summer transfer window.
Should Bellerin leave, two major questions that many Arsenal fans will want to be answered are likely to be; 1. How much will he be sold for? and 2. Who will replace him?
The answer to question No.2 has already been revealed as the aforementioned report has identified Norwich City’s highly-rated Max Aarons and Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey as two potential replacements.
Another question that will be posed if Bellerin leaves this summer is who will become the next Arsenal vice-captain?
It’s a role that the right-back has been in since last season as he’s the understudy to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who having signed a new contract last summer, is likely to continue leading the team out for the next three years at least.
In the absence of the 31-year-old, the experienced trio of Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka, and David Luiz have worn the captain’s armband this season.
But whether any of the trio are in contention for a promotion or will even still at the club next season remains to be seen.
Interestingly, Arteta has already hinted at the perfect replacement for Bellerin in terms of the vice-captaincy role.
Speaking after his side’s 4-0 win over West Brom last month, the Gunners boss touted Kieran Tierney as a future Arsenal captain.
“I think he can be Arsenal captain as he has the respect and admiration of every member of the staff and every player,” Arteta said, as per Goal. “It is just the way he is.
By signing up for our Arsenal newsletter, you will receive a once-daily email, focused around goings-on at Emirates Stadium.
You won’t miss a thing when it comes to the Gunners – you’ll get all you need to know directly into your inbox.
We’ll also send out special newsletters with any big breaking news too.
And with the January transfer window now open there’s plenty of content to get your teeth into.
How do you sign up?
It’s easy and only takes seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article – or any article on the Arsenal section of football.london in fact – labelled ‘Get the biggest daily stories by email’ and click ‘Subscribe’.
And that’s it, you’re all set.
If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters – but we don’t think you’ll want to.
For more details, click here.
“He does it in a natural way.
“He is a really shy boy as well but he represents all of us in the club; all of the values that we want to instill and are in the DNA in this club.”
Could the first step in Tierney’s journey to becoming Arsenal captain be to take over from Bellerin as the understudy to Aubameyang if the Gunners No.2 bids farewell to the Emirates this summer?