Arsenal on the Verge of Signing Brazilian Wonderkid Gabriel Martinelli
Arsenal are set to make their first summer signing, with Brazilian 17-year-old wonderkid Gabriel Martinelli set to join the club for £5 million.
In a world where depth players are being signed for £30-40 million alone, Arsenal’s budding youngsters may just save themselves a trip to the bank. With the club having a widely-known limited budget, they are certainly looking for young bargains that can make an impact in the first team sooner rather than later. The Gunners are now set to add 17-year-old Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli to their ranks, with the forward reportedly costing £5 million.
If these reports are true that we have verbally agreed to sign Martinelli then that has been some good business by Arsenal and the fee is peanuts in today's market.
— 👑 Emery (@iAmGunnerTalk) March 30, 2019
He looks a real good prospect too. Hopefully he will be joining you with the first team when this does happen.
Born in June 2001, Martinelli played for the Corinthians academy team from age 9 to 13, and then played for Ituano, where he remains at the moment. Ituano do not play in the traditional Brazilian league system of Serie A, but play in the football league of Sao Paulo, alongside the likes of Corinthians, Botafogo and other big name Brazilian sides, who partake in both leagues. In his first real season as a significant player, Martinelli has an impressive 6 goals in 11 matches. His performances have caught the eyes of clubs around the world, including some Brazilian giants along with Manchester United and Barcelona, with both clubs actually taking the player on trial a few years ago.
If the Martinelli links are to be true, it is great by Arsenal. Would like to see big talents like this signed at a young age. Think about it, in 4-5 years time, once Lacazette and Auba are off, we could be looking at Nketiah, Greenwood, Martinelli, etc as internal replacements.
— Sash ~ (@ltarsenal) March 29, 2019
Despite all the interest, it seems Arsenal is a certain destination for Martinelli, with the reliable Fox Brasil claiming that he will be a Gunner. The 17-year-old is reportedly in the process of applying for Italian citizenship, which would make his inevitable move to Arsenal this summer far easier in terms of work-permit regulations.
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Although they have outperformed expectations this season, plenty of the key players in this Arsenal squad are well into their 30’s, and will need replacing sooner or later. Gabriel Martinelli is certainly one for the future, but if his performances are anything to go off of, he could be featuring for the first-team within a couple years if his development continues in the right way.