Denis Suarez: Who is he, what can he do and what will he bring to Arsenal?

It was a reflection of the technical quality of Denis Suarez that the new Arsenal midfielder was once namechecked by Andres Iniesta as one of his potential heirs at Barcelona. That was last summer, when Iniesta was calling time on his Barcelona career, and it raised expectations that this season could be the year when Suarez finally showed his class on a consistent basis at the Camp Nou.

The fact that Suarez has now left Barcelona, signing for Arsenal on a loan deal, shows that those expectations have not been met. But the doubts held by Ernesto Valverde, the Barcelona manager, are clearly not shared by Unai Emery, who sees Suarez as a versatile midfield option who can provide Arsenal with some much-needed width on either flank.

With opportunities proving so limited at Barcelona, despite the high praise from Iniesta, the time had clearly come for Suarez to kick-start a career that has stagnated in recent months. At 25, Suarez should be coming into his prime as a player. Instead, he has spent much of this season as a reserve, still seen as a prospect for the future after promising seasons at Sevilla and Villarreal earlier in his career.

As of November, Suarez was hoping to force his way into the Barcelona first team and prove his worth at the game’s highest level. He scored twice in the Copa Del Rey in early December, going on to make his first two league appearances of the season in the following fortnight, but by the end of the month it had become obvious that a change was needed.

The prospect of reuniting with Emery, who he had worked under during his single campaign at Sevilla, has proved so attractive that Suarez has rejected Barcelona’s attempts to sell him permanently to another La Liga side. Emery is a head coach who demands that his players buy into his methods (see the ongoing ostracisation of Mesut Ozil) and it will be of great encouragement to the Arsenal hierarchy that Suarez had already demonstrated his commitment to the head coach’s cause before he had even touched down in London.

“He is one of the best coaches around,” Suarez said of Emery in 2015. “He really gets the best out of us. He considers each and every one of his players and always puts those who are in the best possible shape in his starting line-up. He always talks to you, both in good moments - to prevent you being distracted - and bad, to help you recover. The way he treats players is exceptional.”

Positionally, Emery has made it clear that he sees Suarez as a winger, rather than a central midfielder. Arsenal have been desperately short of width this season, with the inconsistent Alex Iwobi providing the only real wide option since the long-term injury of Danny Welbeck. Henrikh Mkhitaryan has started matches on the flanks but he is a central playmaker by trade, and he tends to drift into central areas.

The lack of width was part of the reason for Arsenal’s switch to a back three towards the end of 2018. The new shape allowed the wing-backs to push forward into more advanced areas, but that shape seemed to sap Arsenal of creativity in midfield. As a player who idolises Iniesta, Suarez’s game is based on that invention in attacking areas.

“I’m a midfielder and by best quality is my final ball,” he said after joining Arsenal. “The person I look up to most in the world of football is Iniesta. He has always been my idol, ever since I was young. As well as the fact that he plays in a similar position to me, I was also able to spend to years with him - I learned a lot from him. It’s always been a massive compliment to be compared to him.”

Suarez’s arrival allows for more tactical flexibility for Emery, a head coach who has repeatedly shown himself capable of tweaking formations and systems with immediate effect. And even if the Spaniard does not become a regular starter, we can be sure he will be regularly used from the bench as Emery continues to adapt his team to the demands of each match. Suarez could feature on either wing in a 4-4-2 formation, or in any of the attacking midfield positions in a 4-2-3-1.

“We are very happy that Denis Suarez is joining us,” said Emery. “He is a player we know well and I have worked with him at Sevilla. He brings us quality and options in many different attacking positions, so he will be able to help the team.”

It was on the wing, away from the bigger boys, that Suarez started his life in football, as a four-year-old among kids who were two or three years older. He also made his first appearance in men’s football on the wing, starting on the left flank as a 14-year-old for Celta Vigo’s B side against a full-back who was twice his age. “At the start of the game, he said: ‘As you run past me, I’ll break your legs,’” Suarez told El Periódico in 2016.

For Suarez, there will surely be a sense that he has unfinished business in England, where he spent two seasons with Manchester City. He joined the club at the age of 17, leaving cash-strapped Celta with hopes of one day reaching the City first team. It was too much, too soon for a player of his tender years, though, and Barcelona came calling in 2013. “For a Spaniard, saying no to Barcelona is very difficult,” he told the Guardian three years later.

It was in the following season, on loan at Emery’s Sevilla, that Suarez’s career burst into life. He made 46 appearances in total, scoring six goals and earning a move to Villarreal in 2015. Suarez played a starring role as a wide man in a 4-4-2 during their Europa League run to the semi-finals, when they were eventually defeated by Liverpool. Barcelona saw enough promise to trigger their buy-back clause in the following summer, but Suarez has yet to hit the same heights since returning to the Camp Nou.

So far, his career has been defined by unfulfilled promise and inconsistency. Arsenal are not signing a ready-made superstar, but a player who Emery will hope to mould and develop in the knowledge that, if it goes well, he will join on a permanent basis in the summer. The fact that Arsenal were reluctant to agree to an obligatory purchase, though, is proof that Suarez remains a risk. He has struggled to impose himself at Barcelona, and may well have similar difficulties in England. But this reunion with Emery provides him with a fresh start, and a fresh opportunity to display a technical ability that once made him one of the most exciting forwards in Spain.