Pierro Hincapie sends perfect message to Mikel Arteta amid Arsenal debut worries

Piero Hincapie did something that Mikel Arteta will love on his first appearance since signing for Arsenal. The 23-year-old joined from Bayer Leverkusen on deadline day with Gunners sporting director Andrea Berta able to masterfully negotiate a season-long loan move that also includes an option-to-buy in the agreement.

His arrival allowed Jakub Kiwior to join Porto with Reiss Nelson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira and Sambi Lokonga as others to seal late departures.

A fourth defender signing in three years was questioned by many with Hincapie following Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera into the club.

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The latter was handed quite the baptism of fire for his first minutes away from Emirates Stadium as he came on for the injured William Saliba just minutes into the Premier League clash against Liverpool at Anfield. With Ben White currently unavailable, the decision to sign Hincapie has seemingly been justified.

Arriving at the very start of an international break has meant that he will have to wait some time to make his debut and train with his new teammates.

Hincapie will still be keeping his fitness levels up, though, as he will be playing for Ecuador over the next two weeks. Their first World Cup qualifier of the break took place in the early hours of Friday morning with the game ending goalless.

That is the fourth consecutive time Ecuador have played out a 0-0 draw with Hincapie's display particularly impressive, according to stats gathered by FotMob. He completed 75 out of 88 passes - which was the most of any player - won all of his five ground duels and two attempted tackles.

He also made four recoveries, two interceptions and one block which saw him awarded a 7.6 match rating. Such a dominant defensive display will please Arteta seeing how he has ensured Arsenal have the best defence possible.

The Gunners have kept two clean sheets already this season with the only goal they've conceded as a stunning free-kick from Dominik Szoboszlai. That strike saw Arsenal suffer a defeat that they will be hoping to bounce back from against Nottingham Forest next Saturday lunchtime

Having featured in all of Ecuador's recent games, it seems very likely Hincapie will start against Argentina on Tuesday evening in South America. With that in mind, it is unlikely he will report back to Arsenal until Thursday.

Therefore, a debut for Hincapie appears unlikely with Arsenal's next clash just over 48 hours later. Saliba remains a doubt for the clash in north London but Mosquera is more than capable of filling in.

Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz have already been ruled out with hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.Martin Odegaard returned at Anfield after suffering a shoulder injury while Ben White and Christian Norgaard remained absent.