It is a running joke among Arsenal fans that Mikel Arteta has an obsession with left-footed defenders.
Pablo Mari was his first signing as Arsenal manager and since then Arteta has brought in a left-footed defender in all but one of his six summer transfer windows.
In fact, of the 30 outfield players Arteta has signed since taking charge in 2019, seven have been left-footed defenders.
A few years ago, academy staff were even encouraged to develop players in that role - which is why Ayden Heaven was moved from midfield to defence.
The latest left-footed defender through the door is Piero Hincapie, who joined Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen on transfer deadline day in the summer.
Hincapie has initially arrived on loan, but the full expectation among all parties is that the deal will be made permanent next summer for around £45million.
That represents a significant outlay for Arsenal, especially given they already have Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori as left-sided defensive options.
But Arteta is excited about what Hincapie can bring to the squad, with the Ecuador international in line to make his full debut against Brighton on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup.
“He has quality on the ball,” said Arteta. “He is a player who is super keen. He can play inside, he can play in wide positions.
“He’s done it, in different ways, and now we need to get him up to speed because the moment that physically he’s at his best, he’s going to raise the level.”
Hincapie is a player Arsenal have tracked for a number of years, though they had not planned to move for him this summer.
Plans changed when Jakub Kiwior pushed to join Porto, forcing Arsenal into the market.
Arteta spoke to his close friend and former Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, who gave a glowing reference - not just of the player, but of his character.
Hincapie has made only two brief cameo appearances off the bench so far due to injury, but Arteta has already seen signs of what Alonso described.
“He’s a warrior,” said Arteta. “He’s going to bring such intensity, physicality and emotion to the team.”
Breaking into this Arsenal side, however, won’t be easy.
Gabriel has arguably been their best player this season, while Calafiori has put his injury-hit first year behind him to start every Premier League game.
Lewis-Skelly has suffered as a result, starting just three matches, and Hincapie could face similar challenges.
But he will be optimistic of his chances due to the fact that he offers something different.
He is excellent at carrying the ball forward, either as a left-back or from the heart of defence.
Indeed, in the Bundesliga last season, Hincapie ranked fourth overall for progressive carrying distance, a metric that measures how far a player drives the ball towards an opponent’s goal. Hincapie’s pace helps him in this area. Only Jeremie Frimpong clocked a higher top speed for Leverkusen last season, with Hincapie hitting 35.85 km/h.
That top speed is faster than any of Benjamin Sesko, Hugo Ekitike and Omar Marmoush managed last season.
Hincapie’s preferred position is centre-back, and growing up he watched clips of Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos on YouTube.
But his athleticism and ability to carry the ball make him an intriguing option for Arsenal at left-back.
Deploying him as an overlapping full-back would give the Gunners a new dimension in attack, particularly if Eberechi Eze plays on the left flank.
Eze likes to cut inside onto his stronger right foot and having Hincapie overlap would create space for him to exploit.
Arteta has not been able to experiment with that setup yet due to Hincapie’s injury, but now fully fit, the 23-year-old is eager to make up for lost time.
Arteta might soon find that his love of left-footed defenders has given him one of his toughest selection dilemmas to date.
