MIKEL ARTETA has hailed Hector Bellerin as a key Arsenal player and believes the defender is finally get back to his best form.
Bellerin, 25, was out for nine months last year after picking up a devastating knee injury.
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But he is now fit again and has started every single one of Arsenal’s Premier League games this term.
Bellerin has thrived as the right-sided wing-back in Arteta’s 3-4-3 system.
And the Gunners boss reckons there’s more to come from the club’s longest-serving player ahead of Sunday’s game against Aston Villa.
Arteta explained: “I think when you have a big injury like that it can take almost a year for your brain to reset and accept that injury and become the same player.
“After that you have to recover and rediscover those performances, that consistency in the minutes you are able to play, which is something he has struggled with in recent years.
“But when something starts to get more natural, you start to get the flow.
“He is more confident, he is playing regularly, he is able to do more things, he ends the game in a much better way physically and he recovers better.
“What happens, happens, but his performances are getting better and better.
“Yes, absolutely [it’s important to have a long-serving player].
“As well as that it’s about the characters we need in the dressing room and Hector is a key figure in that, in my opinion.
“He is a player who has special feelings towards the club because he has been here a long time and he is very grateful for all the coaches, the staff, the club and the fans have done for him.
“He is always willing to pay that confidence back, that respect back and that loyalty back.
“It is something you need in our dressing room because at the end of the day that is the habit of this football club.”
