Arsenal have completed the signing of Brazilian striker Marquinhos from Sao Paulo for a fee in the region of £3 million.
The 19-year-old is the first signing of what is sure to be a busy summer for the Gunners who are looking to strengthen in a number of positions.
Earmarked as one for the future, Marquinhos has moved to Emirates Stadium for a cut-price fee after Edu got wind of a contract dispute between the player and his club.
At 16, the attacker put pen to paper on a five-year deal with Sao Paulo even though FIFA rules stipulate a maximum three-year commitment at that age.
Given his contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, the Brazilian giants have opted to cash in now rather than take the issue to court where they would likely have lost their case.
We’re assuming Marquinhos will join up with the first team for pre-season training but it’s far from assured that he’ll be part of Mikel Arteta’s squad next season. Despite making 40 senior appearances for Sao Paulo, there are suggestions he could go out on loan to gain further experience.
It appears that’s what Wolves were planning for the player before Arsenal snatched the youngster from their grasp. The ramifications of that remain to be seen.
Young Brazilian forward Marquinhos has joined Arsenal.
A deal for Wolves to sign him was thought to be so far down the line that a loan to Grasshoppers was already being lined up for next season. Club has sought legal advice.
— Tim Spiers (@TimSpiers) June 13, 2022
After signing his compatriot, Edu said: “We’re delighted to have completed the transfer with Sao Paulo, as Marquinhos was a player we had been watching for a while. At 19, he is still very young, so he is a player for the future. We look forward to Marquinhos now joining us for pre-season, making his new home, and continuing to grow and develop with us.”
Low risk, high reward.
Good first step for the summer transfer window!
Considering Wolves were about to loan him out, does this mean he’s got some work permit issues? Seems pretty vague as there is some talk of “post-brexit” changes to the rules. Can’t imagine those changes being positive in such a capacity.
Can’t really see how brexit regs would have an impact on South American signings, I suspect it’s more an experience thing.
If he doesn’t feature for Brazil national team it could be a problem. The rules are complicated and I forget if national youth games count, but they need to have played a certain percentage of national games to qualify for a work permit. Also has to do with the domestic league’s world ranking.
he’s 19 and from another continent, the loan was probably to acclimate him to european games but also to get him experience in a first team setup
Hope he steps up sooner than later. We have done well signing Brazilians recently so hope that continues.
More a 50/50 on Brazilians when considering David Luiz and Willian. But Brazilians named Gabriel is 100% so here’s hoping it’s another cracking signing!
The fact that he’s definitely not an over-the-hill Chelsea has-been panic-buy helps matters considerably.
Are you including Gabriel Paulista in that equation?
Brazil seems to be the new France/Spain.
A wise man once said “for every two Gabriels there’s one Andre” so I think that its 2/1 on he’ll be tidy
Good.
Now, Stan my old son, quit fucking about, cough up and let’s get Jesus, Tielemans and Gnabry done as well.
Prompto.
gno thanks to gnabry, he burned his bridges as far as i’m concerned, and likely would look to leave for pastures greener after one good season
Gno too… but is the grass at Allianz Arena not green enough?
He would come on what a 5 year deal. 2 good season’s and sell him for a profit. Exactly what we’ve not been doing for years. Saka needs some of the burden taken off him give him 2 years next to a star player then he can become the superstar we know he will be
Looks like a pretty savvy bit of business, low risk – potentially high reward. Another Martinelli would be lovely, cheers
Podcast ends then Arsenal sign a player out of the blue
Welcome Marquinhos!
Welcome to The Arsenal, Marquinhos. Settle in well, and show us what you can do.
Hope we sell him to wolves for 55mil when he flops xD
Looking good, good start
Looks like a great player. I hope he gets game time this year.
Looks solid and muscular for such a youngster. Lots of good ball retrieval work too. Looks good!
The announcement on the Arsenal website is dated June 10. Seems like the article was ready to be released on Friday but the guy in the media department realized it was happy hour and just left without hitting the send button 😂
Can’t see what Wolves can complain about their agreement, to sign him on a free when his contract finished, was to kick in at the end of his contract we’ve bought him while his contract was still in force so their agreement with him wasn’t in force
Also there’s simply no such thing as a pre-contract here so whatever their agreement was it held no weight.
There are young players who don’t necessarily go through that loan route. Saka is a prime example.
Our new Marqui signing could be one of them. Playing 40 odd games for Sao Paulo is not to be sniffed at. He must have played at a level that belies his age.
I think all options should be on the table until after pre-season.
If Pepe and Nelson go, there should be enough football for him to further develop here – under the watchful eyes of Arteta.
Nice piece of business,,,low risk, now unto bigger players,,@arsenal taking too much time for signing,,,,need to be ruthless
He’s a Marqui signiiing – and he’s better than Haaland and Darwiiin.
If it makes you feel better..
Marquinhos – 40 senior appearances in the Brazilian league
Haaland – 0 appearances in the Brazilian league.
You are technically right. The best kinda right.
It would be obvious if he were better than Haaland.
He’d have cost us about £100 million more than we spent.
For that price, you get Harland’s left toe.
love to stick it to wolves, especially after the celebration police stuff last year
Welcome to the club!
As an aside does he qualify for a work permit? He has represented Brazil for his age group and has played over 40 times for a big club like Sao Paulo. Martinelli had an Italian passport through one his parents and that made things easy.
One down, 3 to go. At least.
Still being far too slow with the signings that’ll actually make an impact next season.
It’s not even July mate! Relax!
Send him to Betsy.
(On loan of course)
Not saying he’s a bad player but the strategy reminds me of Wenger buying younger players, the older ones will become fed up and want to leave to win trophies. I notice Spurs have agreed a fee for Bissouma who we should have gone for last year instead of White. Where are all these world class players who want to join us!? All the money we’ve lost in transfers! we really are a poorly run club