We’d been close to making a deal with Valladolid back in January only for the two of us to fail to reach an agreement over 18 year old Iván Fresneda’s fee. Now, with Valladolid relegated to Spain’s second division, his release clause has been halved from €40m to €20m, meaning we could simply pony up and have him without having to negotiate with the club. If that doesn’t quite fit our finances, there are options for securing the highly rated youngster…
Iván Fresneda plays mainly as a right back but is versatile enough to also play centre-back and left back (according to whoscored). He’ll want somewhere that allows him to develop, and that’s not going to happen in LaLiga2. However, it’s unlikely that he’d displace White or even move ahead of Tomiyasu in the pecking order, so we’d have to figure out how sweeten the deal. At a risk of contradicting myself within the span of two sentences, perhaps we could pay the release clause and loan him back to Valladolid. He could continue his development in a comfortable, familiar environment…albeit against opponents inferior to the ones that relegated him and his mates in the first place.
What about a loan to somewhere like Dortmund? Fresneda might have an easier time displacing Wolf or Ryerson at rightback. Although a move from Spain to Germany might be challenge a player to adapt, we might learn more about Fresneda’s character than we would if he were to stay in Spain. Is he willing to fight for a spot in a squad considerably superior to his current one? Can he adapt to the higher expectations at Dortmund? A fee that would amount to about £17m suggests that it would be worth a try. I’d prefer this to the safety (and possible complacency) of loaning him back to Valladolid.
This one may be as exciting as our pursuit of players like Rice or Caicedo, but Arteta has shown that he can help young players develop rapidly. After a year-long loan to a club like Dortmund, we’ll have a much-better idea of what he’s capable of and whether he’d be ready to make the move to London. He’s a work in progress but one who could become a vital player, given his versatility and potential. His role as an inverted fullback, similar to how Zinchenko plays from the other side, would make for a very interesting formation and attack.
We’ll see, though. He’s obviously a player for the future, not for next season. Still, I’d like to see us make the move.
I really like this kid, I think he’s just the kind of fullback Arteta wants. If we can get an 18 year old with top-flight experience, we shouldn’t worry too much about his club’s relegation. As Rammers has shown, getting relegated doesn’t tell you much about a particular player. Actually, picking up players precisely because their club got relegated is about as old as the league itself.
Have a hunch we’ve already made contact. Having gone in for Fresneda last January– our need remains, and there seem to be few contingencies before pulling the trigger on a deal.
Maybe a loan to a club that plays an attacking style– RB Leipzig or Burnley. Arsenal know the environs at Marseille are conducive for PL development.
We were apparently closer to signing him in January than we were with either Rice or Caicedo, for what that’s worth.
Ever so many years under Dyche, it’s hard to think of Burnley as playing attacking football!
Yeah, my brain hit the clutch while typing it too! Did go looking for a Burnley roster– but could only locate one for the beginning of last season. They have an established starter in Connor Roberts with a couple seasons at Swansea in PL 7-8yrs ago. Might be a good situation under Vincent Kompany to get a year of PL acclimation.
I do like the idea of playing under Kompany. Then again, I had high hopes for Lokonga playing under Vieira, and that didn’t really work out. If we can sign Fresneda and loan him to a Prem side, that would be ideal – probably the best experience we could give him (and one I should have detailed in the post!).