Barcelona have been rattled by the reports of Dani Alves deciding to leave the club. The Brazilian has all but confirmed to have signed for Turin giants Juventus after a clause in his contract allows him to leave for free.
This has sparked the club into action as they begin their search for a replacement. Their endeavour has led them to Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin according to The Mirror . The 20-year-old has risen to prominence in the last couple of seasons.
The Spaniard is a product of the La Masia academy but was scouted and signed by Arsenal in 2011. He followed in the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas and Fran Merida and quickly established himself as one of the brightest talents in England
Bellerin was promoted to the first team in 2013 and made his first team debut against West Brom in the Captial One cup. Arsenal signed French right-back Mathieu Debuchy in 2014 after Bacary Sagna departed for Manchester City.
But their new man suffered from an age-old club curse after he was injured and sidelined for an extended period. Wenger had no option but to promote Bellerin to the first team and the youngster took to his new responsibility like a fish to water.
Even after Debuchy recovered he couldn't dislodge Bellerin from the team and was eventually loaned out to Bordeaux last campaign. Barcelona have already raided Arsenal for their former academy graduates once when Fabregas joined the Catalans in 2011.
But the Gunners are determined to repel any interest with Wenger also mentioning during the season that they under no financial threat to sell their star players. Bellerin admitted he was flattered by interest from the club.
“My agent is the one that works on these sort of things, but I'm happy to receive interest from such great clubs. As a player it's really nice.” But the Spaniard also stated he has no reason to the leave at this moment in time.
“Right now I'm very happy where I am, at Arsenal and focusing on the national team. With these things, until you don't know what to do until they arrive.If Alves leaves they will need a full-back, there are lots in Europe.”
Real Madrid's Dani Carvajal hobbled off the pitch during the Champions League final and is set to miss the Euros. It is very likely Del Bosque will pick Hector Bellerin as his replacement. The Arsenal man has already earned a call-up and certainly merits a place in the final squad.
