What do we know about Mosquera?

Valencia's Cristhian Mosquera is likely to be the next addition to Mikel Arteta's defence, but what do we know about the 22 year-old?

Mosquera joined Valencia as a 12 year-old in 2016, before making his first-team debut in 2022 when he became the youngest centre-back to play for the club.

Over the past two seasons, he has become a regular fixture in the Valencia defence, playing in all but three La Liga matches in the past two seasons. In 2024-25, he not only played the most minutes of anyone in the Valencia squad, but also the second most of any outfield player in the whole Spanish top flight.

Even at his young age, Mosquera boasts impressive defensive stats. The 22-year-old won 70.7% of his ground duels in the league last season, comfortably the highest success rate of any La Liga defender to contest more than 100. He also won possession an average of 5.15 times per match, the third-highest figure in the division for players in his position.

Unsurprisingly for an Arsenal target, Mosquera also has strong passing numbers. Last season, the Alicante-born defender completed the most passes per match in the Valencia squad and also had the highest passing accuracy. His 90.5% passing accuracy is most comparable to Gabriel's in the Arsenal defence (90.2%).

Of course, Mosquera is not a perfect defender, and perhaps the biggest cause for concern is his aerial ability. Despite standing at six foot two, he won less than half of his aerial duels in La Liga last season (45%) and had a worse success rate than those of every Arsenal defender in 2024-25.

The hope is that Mosquera has plenty of time to be coached into improving his ability in the air. Learning from dominant forces like Gabriel and William Saliba will only make that process a lot easier.