Almost six months after Hector Bellerin was linked with a £40m move to Barcelona, we look at whether insisting he stayed at Arsenal was such a good idea after all.

Fast love

When Bellerin signed a new six-year deal with Arsenal in November 2016, I don’t know a single Gooner who wasn’t thrilled but, in his current form, was it worth it?

What’s more, should we have kept him despite Barcelona trying to sign him for £40m during the summer?

When the right-back broke into the first team in 2014 after Mathieu Debuchy suffered an ankle injury and Calum Chambers, whom we had only just signed from Southampton, picked up an illness, most of us expected the speedy Spaniard to step in for just a few weeks.

Bellerin had only signed for Arsenal from Barcelona’s B-team in 2011 and we understood that he needed time to develop. He had only just returned from a season on loan at Watford, for goodness sake.

However, the teenager kept his place in the first team, making 20 Premier League appearances that term. Bellerin quickly become Arsene Wenger’s first choice right-back and signed a six-year deal a couple of years later.

That six-year deal, which saw the 22-year-old’s wages rise to a reported £100k-per-week, is one of the factors that prevented Barca from being able to sign their former defender over the summer.

As they had done with Cesc Fabregas, the Catalans allowed Wenger to develop a young player they couldn’t be bothered to dedicate time to, before returning to reap the rewards.

The La Liga giants’ campaign to sign Bellerin came complete with mentions of Barca DNA and Catalonia being his home but most of us assumed that, unlike Cesc, Bellerin was happy in London. He had bedded in, especially with the English players, and we thought he was different.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BN2CMQcja3q/?hl=en&taken-by=hectorbellerin

However, as the summer rolled on and quotes emerged from people close to him, it became clear that Bellerin would quite like to sign for Barcelona despite previously saying he wouldn’t.

“I was lucky enough to take a chance on Arsenal,” Bellerin said in an interview over the summer. “Things have gone well and now hearing this type of news about Barca is something which makes me happy, but it doesn’t depend on me.

“It’s nice to know of interest from a club like Barca, the club where I grew up from a young age. For the moment I don’t know anything, I’m an Arsenal player and we will see what happens.”

Wenger obviously brushed off any rumoured interest, even though Barca were said to be willing to sign him for £40m.

So should Arsenal have cashed in? Hit next to find out.

Should Arsenal have cashed in?

Barca retreated, insisting they didn’t want him anyway, and Bellerin ‘settled’ back into the Arsenal starting XI.

https://twitter.com/Sport_Witness/status/885043276356694016

However, he never really ‘settled’ and his dip in form, which reached a low against Southampton, can be traced all the way back to last March.

The whole team was playing terribly but there was a reason it was the Spaniard that was booed off the pitch after our 3-0 loss at Selhurst Park.

This was around the same time as Bellerin returned from a recurring ankle injury and, to be quite honest, apart from the odd game, he’s not looked fully fit since.

He doesn’t utilise his blistering pace the way he used to and his crossing, which even he joked about needing to work on, seems worse than ever.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWiNO56Avpl/?hl=en&taken-by=hectorbellerin

With this in mind, should Arsenal have bitten Barca’s hand off when they offered £40m for the 22-year-old?

My answer is still no.

First of all, I never want us to sell one of our first team players to that club ever again, no matter how much money they offer.

Secondly, although Bellerin does seem off the pace, he’s still young and has shown what he can do. That’s still in him and I’m sure he’ll find it again.

Lastly, from a practical point of view, how many right-backs are there at the moment who are young, available and worth spending money on?

How many could replace an in-form Bellerin? Or an out-of-form one, for that matter?

Bellerin’s still a defender in demand with Juventus the latest club to be linked with a move for him, and, at the moment, he wears red and white.

I’m glad we kept it that way.

How much longer it stays that way, is anyone’s guess.