Cristhian Mosquera’s affection for Arsenal stretches far beyond his arrival at the club this summer, but it was a conversation with Mikel Arteta which convinced the Spanish centre back to join the Gunners.
Mosquera chiselled out a reputation for himself as one of Europe’s most promising young defenders last season. The 2024 Olympic champion with Spain started all but one of Valencia’s league games at the tender age of 20—and he was missed in that rare absence: a 7–1 defeat to Barcelona.
Once it became clear that Mosquera would not be renewing a contract which was set to expire in 2026, a bidding war soon emerged. Liverpool and Chelsea were linked while Real Madrid tried to tighten their stranglehold of Spanish football’s best young talent. Yet it was Arsenal who snapped him up for a modest €15 million (£13.3 million, $17.4 million).
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The Gunners had a head-start on their competitors. “I always watched the Premier League. In fact, my team was Arsenal,” Mosquera recently revealed to The Guardian. “The players, the shirt. I saw them as a bit different: they had something, an aura.”
However, it was the all consuming influence of Arteta which sealed the deal. “Before I had decided, someone in my camp said: ‘The moment you speak to Mikel, there’s no way he won’t convince you.’ And that’s exactly how it happened,” Mosquera recalled. “When the call finished, my destination couldn’t have been clearer.”
The Basque coach has reinforced the strong first impression which he made on his compatriot. “He really lives for football, he was raised on it, experienced everything,” Mosquera said of Arteta.
“You see that when he talks. He loves the detail, sees things other eyes might not. I’m so happy with him. He’s an incredible person and he’s helping me a lot. The staff have made it easy. Arsenal is an incredible club.”
The faith shown in Mosquera has been quickly repaid. The 21-year-old has filled in seamlessly for both of Arsenal’s first-choice centre backs when the time has come and may very well be called upon again in next weekend’s north London derby following a groin injury for Gabriel.
Mosquera has conceded just three goals during his time on the pitch for Arsenal this season, playing a key role in the record-toppling defensive displays put on by the Gunners. However, the versatile centre back is keen to shift the emphasis away from the backline.
“The key is balance: it’s not just defending, and that’s not just the defenders,” Mosquera pointed out. “It’s good and you see that now as well: a team that’s like a rock, that’s making it very hard for opponents. To win games you have to generate danger too, your forwards need chances.”
“But people talk about the defensive part because of the stats, and it is fundamental teams don’t score against us. And the numbers are crazy,” he added.
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Even though they shipped two goals to Sunderland last weekend, Arsenal have still only conceded five times across 17 matches, keeping 13 clean sheets along the way.
Mosquera outlined the mentality which goes behind that parsimonious record. “The goal is our house and no one is allowed in, no one is allowed near our area,” he declared.
“Then be dangerous in attack. There’s a tactical element of course—the movements—but I think a lot of it is a mental thing, attitude. Our house: do not enter. Inside the dressing room, we believe in ourselves. We know what we’re capable of, we know where we can go.”
