Arsenal may not have signed anybody to bolster their squad now, but Edu has at least struck a deal to bring Auston Trusty to North London.
On deadline day, many would have asked the question… who on earth is Auston Trusty?
Fans wanted a big new striker signing, but were instead handed a defender who has never played outside of Major League Soccer.
That doesn’t sound great, but Trusty has been making strides in the United States and will now hope to make it Arsenal.
For now, the 23-year-old has returned on loan to former club Colorado Rapids, who are owned by Stan Kroenke.
Formerly of Philadelphia Union, Trusty joined Colorado Rapids in 2019. With almost 100 MLS appearances to his name, Trusty has been a regular in recent years.
Yet to be capped by the US, Trusty is a huge figure at 6ft 4in tall and may be seen as one for the future by Arsenal.
Back in 2018, MLS Soccer named Trusty in their list of top youngsters, coming in at number eight alongside defensive partner Mark McKenzie.
Also on that list was now-Boavista defender Reggie Cannon and Alphonso Davies, then of Vancouver Whitecaps but now of Bayern Munich.
They described Trusty’s brand of defending as ‘athletic cruelty’, praising him for the way he dominated MLS attackers.
Not afraid of a tackle and ready to challenge anybody in the air, Trusty is physical and aggressive.
That’s hugely exciting for Arsenal, even if only picking out and praising Trusty’s athletic ability is a little reductive.
He has plenty of other attributes and shouldn’t just be viewed as a ‘brute’ of a defender.
Trusty can carry the ball out from the back and play out as a left-sided defender, even his size and frame is the main attraction to many.
Those attributes are very valuable in the modern game, helping build attacks and beat pressing traps.
It may be a long shot for Trusty to become a star at Arsenal, but a squad role isn’t beyond him.
Mikel Arteta has loved having two left-footed centre backs in Gabriel Magalhaes and Pablo Mari, but Mari is now out on loan at Udinese and could be sold this summer.
There may be scope for Trusty to take that role behind Gabriel, especially if Arteta takes a liking to Trusty’s committed brand of defending.
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