Valencia have been gutted on the transfer market over the last few years.
After being taken over by Peter Lim about 10 years ago, the club aggressively signed many talented players, but with Lim losing interest in the club since the pandemic, Valencia have been more of a selling club.
Many talented players, such as Dani Parejo, Rodrigo Moreno, and Geoffrey Kondogbia, had to leave the club due to financial reasons, and the club plummeted out of the UEFA Champions League places in La Liga, eventually falling into the relegation zone.
Still, there were positives in these seasons for the club from Eastern Spain—mostly their academy.
With many players leaving, any Valencia manager over the last couple of seasons has been pretty much forced to fill holes with youth players, and the job of preparing them in the academy is fantastic for Los Che.
José Gaya has been a cornerstone for many years now, but over the last couple of years, multiple academy products have made a lasting impact in Valencia.
Players like Ferrán Torres, Carlos Soler, César Tarrega, Javi Guerra, and Yunus Musah have become stars in Valencia.
Another player following that path is Cristhian Mosquera.
Mosquera is a Valencia Academy product through and through.
He joined the club as a child and progressed through the academy ranks, making his debut at just 17 years of age.
For the past two years, Mosquera was the starting centre-back and leader of the defence for Valencia in La Liga while also being a Spanish U21 international and winning an Olympic gold medal in 2024.
These performances sparked interest from larger clubs, and it appears that the player has decided to leave this summer.
There are many potential suitors; RB Leipzig were interested earlier this summer, and Atlético Madrid have monitored him for a while now, but it seems like Mikel Arteta and Arsenal are going to beat other clubs to Cristhian Mosqueras signature.
In this player analysis and scout report, we will examine what makes the young centre-back so special, where he already shines, in which areas he needs to improve, and why he would be a really good fit for Arteta’s Arsenal.
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Cristhian Mosquera Aggressive Defending
Looking at what Cristhian Mosquera provides best, we are mostly talking about stability.
The young Spanish centre-back is elite at defending in a deep block.
He moves and shifts well within the defensive line, recognises assignments quickly, and always manages to get to the attackers in and around the box to prevent damage as well as he can.
Still, he has way more potential as a defender than just playing well in the collective.
Mosquera has an outstanding footballing IQ against the ball.
He anticipates well and makes quick, sound decisions on the spot, even under pressure.
There are no moments anywhere where he loses his composure, which really impressed me from a player his age.
At just 21 years old, Mosquera is one of the calmest defenders I have ever seen.
He always understands the situation around him, which demonstrates his exceptional situational awareness on the pitch at any given time.
Here, we can see a stereotypical situation for Valencia and Cristhian Mosquera over the last few months.
Valencia defend in a 4-4-2 shape, and Mosquera plays as the left centre-back.
He
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