Cristhian Mosquera: La Liga's Best One-on-One Defender Is Joining Arsenal

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Arsenal are continuing to strengthen their squad, and the signing of Cristhian Mosquera from Valencia should push their other defenders to be even better.

How do you improve the best defence in the Premier League?

That was the question facing Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta as he headed into this summer transfer window. For each of the last two seasons, Arsenal have had easily the best defensive record, conceding at least 15 goals fewer than any other team (63).

It's not really the most obvious area to try and improve, then, is it? But Arsenal finished second in both of those seasons and the one before that, and haven't won a single trophy in that time. Eight other Premier League teams have won something of note in that period.

The Problem with Backup Players

One problem – if that's what you can call it – in Arsenal's defence is that the drop-off in quality from the first-choice centre-backs to the second string is too great. That's always going to be a bit of an issue when you have two of the world's best defenders in William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães as the main pair in those positions.

They will play every big game that they are available for, so whenever they aren't able to play, Arsenal feel the effects of bringing in an undercooked back-up who just isn't as good.

In 2022-23, their title tilt fell apart when Saliba was injured for the run-in, and in 2024-25, Gabriel missed the last couple of months of the campaign. Although Jakub Kiwior did well enough as his stand-in, there's no doubt Arsenal would have been better off with the Brazilian – in attack as well as in defence.

Young Talent with Rich Experience

Cristhian Mosquera came through the youth ranks at Valencia before making his first-team debut in early 2022, aged just 17. He made only four starts and five substitute appearances in La Liga over the next 18 months, but then properly broke through at the start of the 2023-24 season.

In Europe's top five leagues in the last two years, Mosquera has made more starts (70), racked up more appearances (73) and played more minutes (6,394) while under 21 years old than any other player. In that time, he's made 11 more league appearances than Désiré Doué, started 15 more games than Savinho while under the age of 21, and played over 1,300 more minutes than Lamine Yamal.

Statistical Excellence

In total in his career, Mosquera has made 74 La Liga starts; the last player to have started as many games before turning 21 years old was Aymeric Laporte in April 2015.

In his first season in the first team, he played mostly on the right side of a back four, forming a formidable partnership at the back with former Arsenal man Gabriel Paulista. Behind that drive to sign Gabriel Paulista was the then-Atlético and now-Arsenal sporting director, Andrea Berta.

Defensive Abilities

At 6-foot-2, he is a significant presence, and although he doesn't do well in aerial battles, owning one of the worst aerial duel success rates among centre-backs in La Liga last season (51.4%), he is among the best in the league when it comes to dealing with an opponent dribbling at him.

Of all 195 players to attempt 50+ true tackles in La Liga last season, Mosquera had the highest success rate (76.7%), proving just how adept he is when it comes to one-on-one defending. In the Premier League, Saliba ranked second for true tackle success rate (79.5%) behind Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic (81.0%).

Ball-Playing Skills

He is also comfortable on the ball. In his first full season in La Liga, he completed 88.6% of his passes, and that rate rose to 91.2% last season. He was the only La Liga player in the top 20 for pass success rate who played for a team outside the top seven for possession in 2024-25.

He is a little cautious with his passing, though. He ranked 11th in La Liga for total passes attempted, with 2,048, but just 3.8% of them were classed as 'progressive'. Only three other players in the top 20 for passes attempted fared worse for the proportion of them that were progressive.

Future at Arsenal

Still just 21, he isn't a complete defender. His passing isn't at the elite level of someone like Saliba, and he isn't the best in the air either, but these are elements of his game that can be improved. Training alongside better players will only increase the chances of that happening.

But Arsenal do appear to be picking up a gem in Mosquera. The only question is whether he is too good not to be playing regularly, and that could mean there is a degree of pressure on the starting centre-backs that has been absent for the last three years.

Maybe, just maybe, that could mean the Premier League's best defence gets even better.

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Thank you to Stats Perform for providing the data and photographs.

More information: 24live.com