What do we know about Stephan Lichtsteiner?
According to reports former Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner is set to join Arsenal this summer and will sign a 1 year contract with the Gunners. So, what do we know about him?
Age: 34
Born: Adligenswil, Switzerland
Club’s Represented:
Grasshopper 2001-2005,
Lille 2005-2008,
Lazio 2008-2011,
Juventus 2011-2018
International Caps:
Switzerland – 98
Honours:
7x Serie A titles, 1x Swiss Football League, 4x Italian Supercoppa, 5x Coppa Italia and 1x Swiss Footballer of the Year.
What the Media say:
Stephan Lichtsteiner is known for being an extremely versatile and hard working player. He’s intelligent, tactically aware and is comfortable playing anywhere down the right hand side of the field. During his time at Juventus he featured as a right back, right midfielder and a right wing-back depending on the managers preferred system. Lichtsteiner’s commitment can never be questioned but he has been criticized in the past for lacking composure, making costly defensive errors and for his poor distribution from time to time.
My View:
Whenever I’ve seen him play I’ve been highly impressed. Stephan strikes me as a ‘reliable’ footballer, he doesn’t exactly possess much flair or natural class but he’s certainly capable of following instructions accurately. He’s a proven winner, vastly experienced and would provide cover as well as competition for Hector Bellerin. Since Mathieu Debuchy left the club we’ve been without natural cover for the Spaniard. Another experienced head in the dressing room certainly won’t hurt and I’m all for this proposed signing. At 34 years of age, Stephan is no spring chicken but from what I’ve seen covering Serie A closely he remains extremely fit. Considering he is out of contract and available on a free transfer this seems like a fantastic opportunity to bolster our squad, let’s get him in!
Words: @HarrySymeou
