Under Arsène Wenger, Arsenal were a team renowned for their dedication to playing football the ‘right way’, come rain or shine.
While this approach gave fans some incredible teams over the years, it also led to a lot of frustration and the more than the occasional demolition at the hands of other more physical and defensively astute sides in the latter years.
However, while the club’s DNA of wanting to play attractive attacking football is still present today, Mikel Arteta has worked tirelessly on making his team significantly harder to break down, more physically dominant, and maybe just that bit more fluent in the so-called ‘dark arts.’
The Spaniard’s team is full of solid stars who have helped make the North Londoners perhaps the most defensively impressive team in Europe, such as Jurrien Timber and Ben White. While those two could remain at the club for years to come, the academy might have already produced their long-term heir.
White and Timber's evolution at Arsenal
Arsenal’s £50m signing of White in the summer of 2021 was not a move met with universal praise at the time, as just a few months later a poll of football agents named it the worst signing of the window, as insane as that sounds today.
That first year in North London saw the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace primarily play as a centre-back, but the introduction of William Saliba for the following campaign saw him shift out to right-back, where he has been incredible ever since.
In all, the Poole-born star has now made 95 appearances for the Gunners on the right of the back four, where he has scored five goals and provided ten assists, and 39 appearances in his original position, where he unsurprisingly has not produced a goal or assist.
He might not have been seen as a smart transfer by some at the time, but in the three years since, he has more than proven his worth to the club and now has another teammate who shares his positional versatility in Timber.
The Dutch international moved to N5 last summer for around £38m, but an ACL injury kept him sidelined for practically the entire campaign. However, given the way he has started this year, you’d never have guessed he’d suffered such a severe injury.
So far this season, the former Ajax star has made six appearances, in which he has played at left-back, right-back and even defensive midfield, making it practically impossible to predict exactly where Arteta will start him in games.
Overall, both White and Timber have proven themselves to be exceptional players, and so long as they stay fit, they could help shore up Arsenal’s defence for years to come, although they could have some extra competition on their hands in a few years from an up-and-coming academy gem.
Why fans should be excited about Michal Rosiak
So, the Hale End gem in question is Poland U19 international Michal Rosiak.
The 18-year-old has been a star in the club’s academy for some time now and has shown signs that he could be a potential long-term heir to White or even Timber, but how?
Well, one of the main reasons is his versatility. For example, he is accomplished as both a defensive midfielder, where he has started 34 games in his junior career, and a right-back, where he has made 17 starts thus far.
Appearances
34
17
3
1
Goals
11
6
0
0
Assists
8
5
0
1
Goal Involvements per Match
0.55
0.64
0.00
1
That said, while he can already play both to an impressive level, those in the know expect his best route into the first team to be as an inverted full-back, with Hale End expert and podcaster Will Balsam describing him as “the future of that position for the club” thanks to his “innovative passing range.”
The second reason is related to the first.
Thanks in part to his experience playing in the middle of the park, the gifted youngster is incredibly comfortable on the ball and can influence proceedings at both ends of the pitch. In those 34 starts as a defensive midfielder, he’s racked up a seriously impressive haul of 11 goals and eight assists, equating to a goal involvement on average every 1.78 games.
Ultimately, while it will still be a good few years before we see Rosiak making regular first-team appearances, the signs are overwhelmingly positive.
Left for £0, now worth £84m: Arsenal must regret losing world-class star
The sensational international has haunted the Gunners for the best part of a decade.
ByJack Salveson HolmesSep 27, 2024