With the winter silly season approaching and names from across Europe begin to be linked with the elite clubs on the continent, it is time to focus on a young Spanish centre-back who has been causing a stir in London: Fernando Calero.
The Real Valladolid defender caused a storm across the twitter-sphere when an Instagram post revealed he was in London. This has led many media outlets to link the Spaniard with a move to Arsenal. In need of reinforcements and with head of recruitment Sven Mislintat out searching to bolster Unai Emery’s back line, we take an in-depth look at Calero and what he could bring to the North London club.
Beginning life at Real Valladolid before his 10th birthday, Calero’s youth development changed hands when he joined Malaga’s system in 2011 before going on to represent the club’s B side for two years. Calero returned to his home-town club of Valladolid impressing in their own B-side before being promoted to the senior squad.
Calero became a key figure in Valladolid’s promotion push in the second half of the 2017/18 season. This subsequently meant Calero featured in each and every play-off game. The Spaniard scored in the first-leg 3-1 win over Sporting Gijon, before going on to beat CD Numancia to reach the Primera Division.
In his debut La Liga season, Calero has played every minute of every league game so far, including scoring in Valladolid’s 3-2 loss to Atletico Madrid. Manager Sergio has put great faith in Calero to be a fulcrum of his defensive unit which has led to an impressive first half of the season. Valladolid were one of the favourites to face the drop come the end of the 38 games but their 13th position, aided by the defensive performances of Calero, has raised their stock in the top-flight.
Losing Calero in January to a winter transfer would be hugely detrimental to the club’s survival hopes, and that is to great credit of the youngster. With Spain bursting at the seams with exciting defenders such as Mario Hermoso and Unai Nunez, what is it about Calero which has caught the eye of these top clubs?
Similar to Hermoso and Nunez, Calero possesses the natural passing ability a modern age centre-half must have in their arsenal (excuse the pun) if they want to sign for a club such as the Gunners. Calero’s passing accuracy surpasses both Stephan Lichtsteiner and Shkodran Mustafi in the Arsenal setup. He breaches the 90% benchmark set by both Sokratis and Rob Holding and with the latter out for the season Calero’s accuracy and confidence with the ball at his feet would be a welcome reprieve for many Arsenal fans.
The ability to utilize the width at many top clubs is key and having a centre-back who can accurately spray a pass out to either flank comfortably is a notable attribute many scouts are searching for. This season, Calero’s 56% long passing accuracy clearly demonstrates that at just 23 years of age and with potential to harness, he would be looked upon as a valuable asset to any side demanding passes to create dangerous wing play situations.
A right footed defender occupying the left-hand side of a back two shows Sergio’s confidence in the Spaniard’s ability with both feet, and with good reason. Calero’s confident and accurate long-passing abilities see the youngster often opt to send an attacking pass to the right flank to instinctively stretch the opposition.
