Andrea Berta made a bold transfer decision during the summer window and things are looking positive for one Arsenal player in particular
14:28, 06 Nov 2025Updated 14:51, 06 Nov 2025
Piero Hincapie won all eight of his duels in Arsenal’s 3-0 Champions League win over Slavia Prague
Piero Hincapie has endured a stop-start beginning to his Arsenal career but now the tough Ecuador international defender is poised to play an integral role in their four-pronged pursuit of silverware.
The 23-year-old centre-back, who is equally comfortable at left-back, helped the Gunners record their eighth successive clean sheet – all of which have come in matches they have won – in all competitions on Tuesday.
Arsenal have now surpassed a club-record, previously set by George Graham’s Gunners side in 1987, following their shutout of Slavia Prague in the Czech capital.
Only two other English clubs have ever matched that sequence (Liverpool in 1920 and Preston North End in 1889) and Mikel Arteta’s hungry outfit are looking to write more history this Saturday when they travel to Sunderland in the Premier League in search of a record ninth clean sheet on the spin.
Remarkably, it’s now been a whopping 12 hours and 56 minutes since the Gunners last conceded a goal when Nick Woltemade netted the opener in the dramatic 2-1 triumph over Newcastle at St James’ Park in late September.
Hincapie has also notched up his own personal record after winning eight duels in Prague against Slavia. It’s the first time in the past 10 seasons that an Arsenal player has contested eight or more duels in a European fixture and won 100 per cent of them.
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Arteta later said of Hincapie’s robust display: “I think he was really good, really strong, really efficient and now he’s got some minutes in the last week with two games.”
His all-action, combative performance was also serenaded by the travelling Arsenal faithful, who debuted a new chant for the club’s first-ever Ecuadorian player.
Additionally, no player within Arteta’s squad currently boasts a better duel success rate (he has won 80 per cent of his 20 duels) than Hincapie so far this season.
Riccardo Calafiori has started all 10 Premier League matches but Hincapie has slowly begun to eclipse Myles Lewis-Skelly as the Italian’s deputy following his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen.
His deadline-day arrival was sanctioned upon the recommendation of sporting director Andrea Berta, though it’s understood Arteta had been tracking the South American’s progress in the Bundesliga for several years.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was also a key driving force behind the deal to sign Piero Hincapie(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Internally, Arsenal’s summer business had initially been considered all but done prior to the arrivals of Eberechi Eze and Hincapie but Berta stamped his influence on the club’s recruitment plans and encouraged the board to stretch their financial resources with two further statement, high-profile additions.
Berta was adamant that despite the complexities surrounding Oleksandr Zinchenko’s potential exit, he would be able to facilitate the Ukraine international’s departure by any means necessary in the final days of the window.
Meanwhile, he was attempting to broker a deal with Leverkusen for Hincapie, who the German outfit conclusively did not want to sell after handing the player a bumper new contract in December 2024.
The masterful Italian chief, who wanted to bring Hincapie to Atletico Madrid during his previous role, was later able to twist Bayer’s arm, agreeing an initial loan with a £45million buy-option that is highly likely to be activated at the end of the season.
Given Arsenal had also mutually terminated the contract of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Berta pushed for extra left-sided defensive cover for Arteta and in the final hours of the market, he was also able to agree a season-long loan deal for Zinchenko with Nottingham Forest after talks with Marseille had reached an impasse.
It’s an operation that may yet prove crucial to the club’s success, come the end of the season.
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