The Arsenal fans were not jumping from their seats to see Nacho Monreal make his way over to the club for £9m in 2013. However, after almost 6 years at North London, almost everyone can agree on how good a footballer he truly has been for the club.
Over the course of the past few seasons, as Arsenal’s defence has continued to plummet to embarrassing lows, Monreal has maintained his place as one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
You can argue that the Spaniard simply looked good amongst a bad bunch but that is not entirely true. Shkodran Mustafi was a world-beater at Valencia and signed for £35m two seasons back and Laurent Koscielny has always been Arsenal’s go-to man in defence. Hector Bellerin is an exciting prospect who is currently the club’s starting right-back while both Petr Cech and Bernd Leno are highly talented and reliable goalkeepers.
In the midst of a crisis every week, Monreal has simply stepped up to the plate time and time again. His debut season at the Emirates was not prolific by any means and neither did he threaten with blistering pace under his boots.
What he did was quickly adapt to the English game and learn the traits of all intelligent defenders – positioning, tackling, marking your man. Monreal has emerged as one of Arsenal’s most consistent and hardest workers during a time when the club continues to struggle against the likes of the English elites.
At 32 years of age, Monreal was thought to be a backup option behind a younger, stronger and even fast Sead Kolasinac but he remains one of the club’s key figures on both ends of the pitch.
He has been the Gunners’ silent protector during a time when the club is overwhelmed by problems all over the pitch. It is only right to recognize and appreciate his contributions to the side during such a trying period.
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