Mariona Caldentey has raised Arsenal’s ceiling

Arsenal have earned some criticism for their recruitment over recent years. Either for a failure to land targets, or else by landing targets and then not having a clear plan for their integration. There are times, I felt, under Jonas Eidevall where Arsenal were too willing to go too far down the list to options B, C and D when they couldn’t land their primary target.

There have been some stopgap signings too and players who have come and gone quickly. However, there are some areas where Arsenal have been strong in their recruitment. I like Manu Zinsberger and think she’s a very good goalkeeper. But there is no question that Daphne van Domselaar is an upgrade. That is why the Dutch keeper was patched up to the extent she was for the Lyon second leg.

I liked Noelle Maritz and thought she was a good right-back. But there is no question that Emily Fox is on a different level. The decision to pull out all the stops to make Alessia Russo the focal point of the attack has, in my mind, borne fruit this season. Victoria Pelova is a really good central midfield player and has been an excellent addition.

However, I am not sure anyone has raised the level at Arsenal more than Mariona Caldentey. What is compelling about Mariona as a level raiser is that she wasn’t brought in to especially replace anybody, even if her arrival coincided with the departure of Vivianne Miedema. The controversy over Miedema’s departure last summer overshadowed the signing of Mariona.

We broke the news that Mariona was close to signing on the same day that Miedema’s departure was confirmed and I regret that the timeline worked out that way, because I felt signing a player like Mariona deserved its own spotlight. Later in the season, Jonas Eidevall gave an interview where he suggested he had a direct choice between signing Mariona and keeping Miedema.

I don’t believe there was that much of a dichotomy between the two players destinies but there is no doubt that the spotlight on Mariona’s arrival was dimmed. I speculated in pre-season that Mariona might play in a more central role behind Russo. Miedema was leaving after all and the number 10 position never really felt like anybody’s property under Eidevall when everyone was fit and available.

I asked Eidevall about where he would most like to use Mariona during pre-season in Washington. ‘When I have seen Mariona at her best in the national team and for Barcelona has been coming off the left and having that freedom to move between the lines and find the pocket. I know last season she played quite a bit in the 9 position and she can manage those positions, which is good, but the main idea is that she plays as a wide forward and having that freedom and flexibility within our structure to move around from there.’

The Spaniard however flitted between the wide left and the central 10 position in the early weeks of the season. She played very well and did ‘Mariona things’ wherever she played but there was still a sense of Arsenal really searching for where to best utilise her qualities. In fact, during Eidevall’s final week in charge, she played on the right wing, the left wing and in the number 10 position for the Swede’s final three games in charge.

I asked Eidevall in September whether he had a clear vision for where Mariona would play, or whether the player became available and she is of such a high quality that he decided to get her and figure the rest out later (I think the latter is a reasonable approach so long as you don’t do it with too many players).

‘That is a very good question, now it is just a question of how honest I am going to be!’ Eidevall joked. ‘It is a combination, when we look at recruitment, we start with ‘what do we need?’ And then building a squad for the future. There is never going to be an exact carbon copy of all the different qualities you start looking for, maybe you find players who give you even more in other areas that you didn’t think was possible.’

‘Mariona ticked all the key qualities that we were recruiting for when we were looking for the wide forward. But when a player like that becomes available and there becomes a clear possibility that we can get her to Arsenal, then we think about it the other way. So we say ‘ok, she gives us this, how do we get the best out of her?’

‘So we cannot think we only recruit someone who fits within a box and that is why the question was so good. The thought process now goes ‘I get something I want but now I have to give something in other areas, so we can fit the player as well as possible.’ In short, some accommodation and some tweaking was going to be required.

I think that remained true when Renee Slegers took the team over in October last year. Mariona still largely played out wide but Slegers did also use her as a number 10. On occasion, the Spaniard was deployed in central midfield but usually as a result of injuries to Kim Little and Lia Walti.

Mariona + Cooney-Cross proved to lack security. So it was with some surprise that Slegers moved Mariona back into central midfield for a recent WSL game against Liverpool. It worked really well and she has played there alongside Kim Little pretty much ever since. It speaks to the increased fluidity and flexibility the team has found under Slegers.

Arsenal no longer struggle in front of low defensive blocks, much of that is down to the greater fluidity of the team under Slegers but, truth be told, Mariona’s arrival is probably the main reason that Arsenal no longer struggle against defensive opponents. She brings a fantasy and creativity to the team that was previously missing.

Unsurprisingly, when you buy a 28-year-old who has spent close to a decade at Barcelona, you get a significant sprinkling of the ‘clutch gene’ in your team too. She scored the equalising goal in the tie against Real Madrid in the UWCL quarter-finals with the most un-Mariona goal imaginable- a header from a cross. She put Arsenal ahead in the semi-final against Lyon with a sensational drive from range into Tiane Endler’s top corner.

Again, I think the ‘clutch gene’ is something that Arsenal have missed since Miedema’s peak (though I think Beth Mead can lay claim to it). The team was outstanding against Lyon on Sunday but…you need something to show for it, it’s all very well dominating teams tactically but in the biggest games, the talent to plant one into the top corner at the pressure moment matters. Nice FBRef columns aren’t enough to win games or trophies.

Quite simply, there are players who can do things with the ball that others can’t. Mariona Caldentey is one such player. She also works immensely hard out of possession, schooled by Barcelona’s intense pressing style, she wins the ball back at an absolutely curve wrecking rate. Arsenal have bought and sold a lot of players in recent years with mixed success but Mariona has raised the ceiling of the team and elevated what they are capable of.

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