Klaus Mosquera's preference for the right foot didn't seem to impact his performance on the left side much, nor did it apparently disqualify him from being picked by Arteta.
Reckon Arteta's picked a right-footer at LCB or a left-footer at RCB maybe 10 times in his 300+ matches as Arsenal manager … well, at least since Gabriel got signed.
Just checked and the poor bloke was forced to field Luiz–Sokratis (Luiz is right-footed) when he arrived, following which he signed Gabriel to switch the pairing to Gabriel–Luiz. To put it in perspective, back then we'd sometimes field something like Kolašinac–Holding in central defence in the cups, and there was also the blighted era of "Holding Time". 😬
Since then, the first-choice selection has persistently been Gabriel–White or Gabriel–Saliba interspersed with a fair bit of Kiwior–Saliba here and there, as well as a fair few appearances for Tomiyasu who could play across the line.
Arteta signed Marà and Gabriel in summer 2020, Trusty (okay, jokes) in winter 2022, Kiwior in winter 2023, Calafiori in summer 2024 and Hincapié in summer 2025, all left-footers who can play centre half, though he and Edu (and now Berta) have consistently signed versatile defenders.
It's true Arteta's also signed a kajillion right-footed players who can play centre half, but the bilateral symmetry has been very persistent.
That said, maybe we'll see a lot of Mosquera while Gabriel's out It would make sense if Arteta wanted one of Mosquera and Hincapié to establish the pecking order by way of performances, as it seems a tough call to pick between the two.
