Arsenal are working on a deal to sign Valencia defender Cristhian Mosquera.
The north London club have made a defensive signing a priority this summer with the 20-year-old Spain youth international currently their preferred option.
Mosquera has been with Valencia since the age of 12, progressing through the academy ranks before making his first-team debut in January 2022.
He has made 90 appearances for the La Liga club in total, including 41 last season. That included playing 90 minutes in 37 of the club’s 38 league games.
A right-footed and physically-imposing centre back, Arsenal see Mosquera as ideal cover for first-choice pairing Gabriel and William Saliba. They previously looked at Dean Huijsen before he left Bournemouth for Real Madrid earlier this summer.
Saliba (51 appearances last season) and Gabriel (42) played the majority of games in central defence last term with Jakub Kiwior, Jurrien Timber, Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori the back up options.
Born to Colombian parents in Alicante, Spain, Mosquera is also eligible to play for Colombia’s senior side but has featured regularly through Spain’s youth setup, including at this summer’s Under-21s European Championship.
Why Arsenal need a defender
By Arsenal correspondent James McNicholas
Arsenal have been in the market for a new centre-back for some time. They considered moving for Brazilian teenager Vitor Reis ahead of the January window, but he ended up at Manchester City.
They then pursued Dean Huijsen of Bournemouth, but he got his preferred move to Real Madrid.
Now their focus is trained on Mosquera. They want a player who can provide competition and cover for the first-choice pair of Gabriel and William Saliba. With Takehiro Tomiyasu still sidelined with a long-term injury, Arsenal are a little light on depth at the heart of their defence — particularly on the right-hand side, where Mosquera has featured frequently.
This signing would also be about acquiring a player with significant potential to improve. Arsenal have signed Gabriel to a new contract, and aim to do the same with Saliba, but this would be a purchase with a view to the long-term. Arsenal will hope that, under Mikel Arteta, Mosquera can develop into a starting-level centre-back.
What could Arsenal be getting?
Analysis by football data writer Thom Harris
Mosquera’s rise to the Valencia first team has been impressive, stepping in to replace the injured Gabriel Paulista in August 2023, and playing practically every game since. From the start of last season, only Florian Lejeune has racked up more outfield minutes than the young centre-back, turning 21 on Friday.
Much like Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes, he is a passive defender, ranking 42nd of La Liga’s 62 centre-backs this season for ‘true’ tackle attempts per 1000 opposition touches, a metric that tells us how often he looks to “stick a foot in” with his team out of possession.
When he does go for the ball, however, he usually comes away with it — his ‘true’ tackle win rate stands at 72.6 per cent, the fifth-highest in the division. At 191cm (6ft 3in), there is poise to how he approaches his defensive work, rarely committing fouls, much preferring to sweep loose balls and defend the space, but strong and clean in his challenges when required.
Also of appeal to Arsenal will be his versatility; as we can see from the position map below, he is happy to play on either side of defence and even protect the flanks at right back, his long strides and solid one-vs-one defending allowing him to keep track of tricky wingers.
Building out from defence has not been a priority for Valencia, but Mosquera is happy to carry the ball into midfield and has maintained a healthy passing accuracy of 91.2 per cent. His performances for Spain at the U21 Euros this summer, completing 98 passes and laying on an assist against Romania, have shown that he can step up and play a more advanced, ball-playing role.
If there is a weakness to Mosquera’s game, it would be his aerial ability, unusually inconsistent for a player of his physical stature. But there is plenty of room for development here, an incredibly composed centre-back, thrown in at La Liga’s deep end as a teenager and emerging remarkably unscathed.
(Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
