Arsenal appear to be adding to their growing core of Spanish players with a surprise move for center back Aymeric Laporte, currently playing in the Saudi Pro League for Al-Nassr. Born in France, Laporte is of the Basque nationality, a small region in between France and Spain that Athletic Bilbao exclusively builds their squad from.
Laporte would be the fifth Spanish signing in the last two years for Arsenal, and the third this summer when reported moves for Kepa Arrizabalaga and Martin Zubimendi are finalized. But Arteta signing a player from his home country of Spain isn’t the interesting story here, it’s bringing Laporte back to the Premier League from Saudi Arabia, the place many people see as a last big pay-day before retirement.
Since the Saudi Pro League has become a major player in the transfer market, the nation has signed several players from the Premier League alone — Roberto Firmino, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho, Kalidou Koulibaly, Riyad Mahrez, Jordan Henderson, and many others. It’s not the first time that the Premier League has seen a foreign nation become a high-profile trader with the Premier League either. The Chinese Super League did this nearly a decade ago, completing big-money transfers for Oscar, Ramires, Mousa Dembele, and more around the 10 million euro mark. The difference there was that once a player made the move, there was hardly ever a return to Europe. As Oscar himself, the all-time record transfer and one of the first to ever leave a big European club for a new continent, would find out.
The Premier League-to-Saudi Pro League pipeline might be reversing
However, this appears to be different with the controversial moves to the Saudi Pro League. After 21 year-old Gabri Veiga completed a hugely scrutinized move from Real Sociedad, he returned to Europe with a 15 million euro move to Porto this summer. As younger players like Jhoan Duran, Marcos Leonardo, Roger Ibanez, and Angelo leave for Saudi Arabia, it’s becoming clear that the move to Asia is no longer a ‘career-ender’.
Laporte’s return to the Premier League would bolster an already strong Arsenal defense. The Gunners conceded the fifth-least goals across Europe’s top-5 leagues, and have made a name for themselves as massive threats on set pieces. Adding Laporte to their group of defenders would strengthen both these areas. But the biggest improvement he would bring is ball-progression from defense. While William Saliba ranks fourth in the Premier League for touches, he only ranks forty-third in progressive passes, and thirteenth for passes into the final third. In comparison, Virgil Van Dijk ranks first in touches, as well as thirteenth for progressive passes and first in the league for passes into the final third. Saliba’s centre back partner Gabriel doesn’t come close to these numbers as well.
Laporte in his last season in the Premier League ranked first in the Premier League for passes into the final third and third for progressive passes.
While that may not be as important as their defensive contribution, having a world-class ball playing defender would be a massive addition to an Arsenal team that lacked creativity from open play last season.
The signing of Laporte would not only be a huge addition to an Arsenal squad that has struggled to continue their form into the late stages of the season, but continue to open up a pathway back from the Saudi Pro League.