According to The Athletic, Arsenal hold a serious interest in Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez and have already had a €30 million bid for the player rejected.
The 24-year-old is a left-footed centre-back by trade and has become a regular for the Dutch giants since joining from homeland side Defensa y Justicia for €6 million in 2019.
In addition to challenging Gabriel Magalhaes for a starting berth, the Gunners believe the Argentina international also has the qualities to provide back-up to Kieran Tierney. At times, he’s also been deployed in midfield.
Part of the Argentina squad that won the Copa America in 2021, Martinez was recently voted Ajax Player of the Year as the Dutch giants retained the Eredivisie title. Given his importance, it’s likely his current owners won’t give him up without a fight.
News of Arsenal’s interest in Martinez comes as the club closes in on a deal for Porto’s Fabio Vieira. The Portuguese club yesterday confirmed a financial agreement with the Gunners and the player has been undertaking medical tests in London.
In addition, rumours continue to swirl about deals for Leicester’s Youri Tielemans, Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and Leeds United’s Raphinha.
Whether we have the funds and ability to pull off all those deals is questionable, but it certainly looks like the club is taking a bullish approach to the transfer market.
The first tranche of first team players will start arriving for pre-season training in nine days’ time. After that a hectic pre-season schedule sees Mikel Arteta and his players play friendlies in Germany and the United States and an Emirates Cup clash with Sevilla. The sooner new players are integrated the better.
Flex baby flex. Like it.
Absolutely love the depth we are creating. But £30m isn’t the price tag of a player we intend to use as backup. Am I missing something or does it feel like there’s a departure coming that we aren’t expecting? I sincerely hope not. Four very competent CB’s would be incredible. But with Holding and this dude as cover, is Arteta considering giving Saliba a new contract and sending him back to Marseilles for one more season? Or could the Gabriel to Juve rumours be true? Typical gooner. Spent the first half of this year worrying about lack of depth. And… Read more »
Okay I’ll admit I knew nothing about Fabio Vieira but I’ve wanted Arsenal to sign Lisandro Martinez for a long time.
If Partey is out he would be fantastic in defensive midfield, if Gabriel was out he’s a top class CB and to be honest he may already be a better LB than Kieran Tierney. He will get plenty of game time so £30m sounds like a great deal.
Ah, has he got DCM experience? That makes more sense. As regards him as an LB, I’m not sure. I feel like him and Tomi together would lack explosive threat.
Tomi is certainly a more conservative RB and I can’t see this guy bombing forward (or at least I see no evidence of that in his highlight reels).
But if he can cover Partey then that makes a lot of sense.
Liking these Swiss Army players we are signing. Gives us so many more options. Smart thinking M&E.
He does have CDM experience. Think it might be a while since he’s played in that position, however… I sense he’s in the Mascherano mould stylistically.
A better LB than Tierney?
Yes Tierney runs down a dead end too often. Don’t get me wrong I love his attitude and work ethic I just think he lacks a bit of intelligence sometimes.
Behave
I reckon we will sell Rob Holding this summer. I think the plan is a squad with four centre backs, two of whom can play full back (White, Martinez) and 4 full backs, two of whom can play centre back (Tomiyasu, Martinez). I would not be surprised to see Nuno loaned out.
I recon they’re going to get Pablo Mari off the books?
Hope this doesn’t mean Gabriel’s going to Madrid?
Fascinated to see how this all ends up. Excited for the new season already!
Imagine if we got Vieira, Jesus, Hickey, Marquinhos, Martinez, and Tielemans. Probably will only be 4 players not 6 but still a nice haul. If it is 5 or 6 then clearing wages is next priority. Hector, Torreira, Pepe, Holding, AMN, and maybe Xhaka’s wages off the books would be big and give us even more room to add in future.
You forgot about Raphinha. Unlikely Marquinhos will be first team ready. He might be loaned out.
No need to loan Marquinhos out. So many fixtures (i.e Europa league)
He will be given the Martinelli treatment, see how he does in pre-season games and pre-season workouts w squad to determine his level. He may have some attributes that the team needs right away.
Truth is arsenal don’t need raphinha ( a lot of Gunner’s will want my head) but that’s the truth, what we need is a goal scoring left forward, like richarlison or danjuma at Villarreal, comparing raphinha and pepe, I believe pepe is a better player ( calm down guys) my reason is both raphinha and Pepe’s game requires a lot of space to thrive, at Leeds raphinha is afforded such space, but at arsenal pepe isn’t cos many teams play with a low block against arsenal, but teams don’t bother with Leeds…. let me explain further; when mahrez was playing… Read more »
I’m guessing we’re after Martinez instead of Hickey as he provides cover for both LB & left sided CB, just like KT. But who know?. I’m happy to just go along for the ride.
Interesting. He’s a solid player for Ajax but he’s very short for a CB at only 1.75m. Could see him used as a backup to Tierney or even utilized as a defensive midfielder but can’t see him as a regular at LCB. Wonder what the thinking is on this one.
You know who else was short? Canavaro. He was alright.
Javier Mascherano
Ronnie Corbett
Mini-Me
Harry Kane’s trophy cabinet.
Unlike his diving cabinet.
He wasn’t short, he was working class
He knew his place.
Holding, a very short man for getting the timing wrong when he jumps.
Rob Holding is better than Cannavaro.
And Baresi. Not too bad either
Don’t let his height fool you. He’s pretty darned good in the air.
Seems pointless as a centre back at 5’9″ in the Premier League, specially when we have Saliba coming back, with Gabriel, White and Holding.
We have seen Passarella at a similar height for Argentina, but never in this country. The ball would just regularly sail over the backline.
Remember how good in the air Sagna was, at about the same height? He only played CB for us a handful of times but he dominated aerially. An away game in particular at Sunderland, where I think Mertesacker was sent off giving away a penalty. Sagna shifted to CB put in an absolute monster performance against a siege of crosses and long balls to cling on to a 2-1 win. I always felt we should have kept him another 2 or 3 years and used him mainly as a CB. Not to say this Lisandro has the same ability –… Read more »
Great comment here.
Sagna is maybe my favorite modern era Arsenal player (until Santi Cazorla came along, that is!).
If this happens and this guy is anywhere near as good as Sagna, then we got a real gem on our hands.
I’ve remembered that Sunderland game completely wrong… It was 1-0 Arsenal, Mertesacker wasn’t sent off giving a penalty – it was Jenkinson with a stupid lunge outside the box, Mertesacker and Sagna started and ended the game together at CB. But my memory of Sagna’s aerial dominance was definitely real!
We sometimes forget how good Sagna was. But it wasn’t a question of our keeping him. He played out his contract (as he had every right to do) and then had an important role (for I assume very big money) in Man City’s initial rise.
You’re probably right, and he was a fading force as a full back at that point, we were probably looking at replacements anyway
But so many times in the following few seasons, when either Kos or Mertesacker were unavailable, when we needed a CB with a bit of grit, strength and intelligence. He would have been perfect
I do remember Sagna and liked him as a player. I also recall how Arsenal have been bullied out of games for so long in lacking height and now Arteta seems to be going all out for small players again.
Jesus, Vieira and Martinez all look good individually, but we need someone that will make the difference when we come up against Newcastle, Spurs and those teams that just kept us at arms length in the closing games last year. Without Partey, we looked very light-weight.
Vermaelen vibes, anyone?
I thought that, but when you check the details, he is 6’0” (183cm).
Don’t start that again!
No.
Saw almost all of his games last season as I follow the Eredivisie closely ( I am Dutch). I think this would be a good signing, he is a good defender and an aggressive player who is also kind of a bastard, which is something we lack I think. He can play both cb and lb but had played quite some games as a dm aswell. However, it is quite hard to rate him at Premier league level as he is playing against a weaker opposition basically every single week. Interestingly he can I do not think he can start… Read more »
Thanks for the insight. May be weaker opposition (I can’t judge) but you can’t fake this guy’s skill on the ball. Arteta wants to control games (all the great sides do except maybe Athletico Madrid!) so this guy has the perfect profile for Arteta.
I watched him in the champions league and he was superb.
I don’t get it, CB isn’t an issue for us going into next season with White, Gabriel, Holding and Saliba. Problem areas are: Partey partner in mid, solid cover for RB and LB, and striker, as well as Pepe replacement. That’s already a lot of work for one window, so why add to expenditure with unnecessary additions in least problematic areas? What does this mean for Saliba, and what does the Fabio signing mean, is it cover for Odegaard, is he a player for a new system we want to try out? Is he our Tielemans alternative? Too many questions,… Read more »
I’d rather buy a proper CDM which we haven’t had for years. We bought a 5.6 light weight and then were surprised when it didn’t work out.
I think Vieira is 5’7, but I think he’ll work out well further forward. I share your wish for a physical presence in central midfield though.
Gilberto was the last decent CDM and that seems decades ago. Is it coincidence that was the last sustained success the club had.
Viera is 6’4!
Exactly my thoughts tbf mate. But I think this Vieira guy will be used as a proper 10 and back up for Saka. That means club should ideally still be going in hot for Tielemans. A little concerned about this Martinez guy, but I think he’s also being picked for his versatility. We need a back up for KT, for Gabriel (if we sell Holding which I think we will) and for Partey. I think he can do all. The only concern that I have is, does this affect Saliba?
Does anyone honestly think Rob Holding will be used at all next year?
He has run his last race for us I think.
Maybe we see a bit more 3-4-3 next season. This is not a bad thing because (1) it can be a very attacking formation, despite its recent rep as a reactive/negative one, and (2) intelligent tactical flexibility can give us an edge over more talented squads. I don’t think it should be the default, but can be a very useful change-up, especially if the changes are subtle (ie don’t start with Holding, White, Gabriel). Arteta’s last iteration of it featured Luiz at sweeper and AMN on left wing (if I remember right), which was imbalanced. Ben White sweeping and Tavares… Read more »
Well, I don’t think the rap against a back three as “reactive/negative” is at all recent. As long as I remember. And, you know, that’s because it really is. No matter how you cut it, a back three means one more player whose primary focus is defending. The fullbacks in a modern back four are hardly less attack-minded than the wingbacks in a back three. That doesn’t mean you can’t play attacking football with a three–but it almost has to be reactive, counter attacking. Mourinho, Conte, and a few others play that way. Not Ferguson, Wenger, Pep, or Klopp. You… Read more »
My guess is Xhaka will be running (not very fast) out on to the pitch against palace and every other team again this coming season. 😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫😫
We need replacement, xhaka can stay at the team but has to be at least third choice, preferably fourth even..
I’d like to keep him in the squad but the pursuit of Tielemens is clearly an upgrade intended for Xhaka’s position.
Latest report says interest is cooling and tielemans likely to take extra year at Leicester. My gut feeling (I pray I’m wrong) is Arteta is gonna stuck with Xhaka. He’s just being investigated for the very dodgy yellow he picked up deliberately against Leeds. Second time.
Ah the good old pursuit. Hope like you that tielemans is to upgrade on Xhaka. Doubtful though.
@arseblog will also all yoyr questions in due time.
This makes sense to me if true. We need reliable cover for KT & he plays in all the same positions (LB & CB) plus DM. I don’t particularly see how this effects Saliba as surely he’ll be competing with/providing cover for White & Tomi.
Bodes well that we have strength in depth, reliable cover & players that can slot in at different positions when needed.
Signings aren’t made in order of priority.
The general consensus is that White, Saliba, Holding are all right footed, with only Gabriel left footed. Tierney can play LCB but is clearly too important at LB to move him.
There’s also the elephant in the room, clubs on the continent sniffing around Gabriel, so another LCB would be important. Hate to say it, everyone is excited about the potential new signings, but there could be a surprise departure from our squad. Even the current best clubs Liverpool and City are reluctantly losing Mane and Jesus.
Liverpool didn’t want to lose Mane, though they have a good replacement ready. But Man City is pretty clearly okay with losing Gabriel Jesus.
The further down the order or out of the squad Holding is, the better
My thoughts exactly. Rob Holding is not good enough and the NLD proved it.
Don’t his FA cup final appearances prove the exact opposite?
He’s not a starter, but I doubt we’d be able to find many better CBs to be 4th choice.
No. The FA Cup final was largely a backs to the wall performance where he is fine. But he can’t stand on the halfway line and squeeze the opposition like we need our centre backs to do. Tactically we’ve moved on from Rob holding.
I’ve sad this before, but it’s worth repeating. (Just to be clear, I really love Holding for his attitude and role in the squad.) If you go back and look at the Cup final against Chelsea with Diego Costa, you incredible determination and grit from Holding–but he really is not good enough. It is Mertesacker who bails him out, repeatedly. (To be fair, Costa was one of the most in-form strikers in Europe at the time.) We are absolutely right to remember it as the Mertesacker final.
Yeah Mertesacker was certainly the class act, but Holding held his own. And has had far more solid games in the last couple of seasons than poor ones – that’s all you can really ask from a 4th choice CB imo. Certainly not worth spending £30m for someone who *might* be a better backup We’re trying to act like Man City with expensive starting quality players in backup roles, 2 left sided CBs, 2 right sided ones. But we’re really not in the same situation as them. The way they do things is to squeeze an extra 5% from a… Read more »
CBs on the halfway line was how we defended before Mertesacker. It was crap. No more suicidal high lines, thanks.
We really haven’t. We’re not at the point where we dominate teams in terms possesion or territory, any more often than the opposite is the case. Replacing Holding is a solution to a problem we don’t have
And maybe I’m remembering wrong again, but weren’t both FA cup finals Holdong played in pretty evenly matched, give and take. We weren’t sitting in any deeper than Chelsea were
Mari is leaving…
Completely agree. I’m also a bit concerned for ESR’s game time next year The most efficient way to increase our points tally next year would be 1) buy the best striker we can afford, 2) the best 6/8 CM we can afford, and 3) what we can raise from player sales on good enough full back cover and Pepe replacement. Fair play if Vieira is the Pepe replacement, and Lisandro is the left back competition, but I think we’re paying far too much for that – assuming we don’t have a near bottomless budget. (And personally I don’t want us… Read more »
My brain hurts
Can we please not enter the new season without signing 2 TOP quality forwards. Nothing against this guy but Defense is not our primary problem
Can’t see us signing two. Eddie and flo will be back up for our sole striking signing.
So many prem teams buying strikers
Dont think we’re gonna get 2 top forwards (unless you count Vieira as a forward). 1 definitely – but if Eddie’s staying, I think that’ll be it.
Also, cover for KT is definitely an issue.
Now even Fab Romano is backing away from Tielemans to Arsenal. Arteta was never interested in Tielemans. All the top tier sides control possession (Man C, Liverpool and Chelsea had the top percentages last season). Arsenal’s possession percentage last season was abysmal. Arteta is bringing in LOTS of firepower. But he knows he has to boost possession to be competitive. That is why he is going to get a game-controller (Arthur Melo) who presently plays for an old-fashioned physical coach (Allegri) not interested in control. Arthur will play the Jorghinho, Xavi, Thiago role.
Maybe you’re right, at least with the idea that we’re not interested in Tielemans. Perhaps it’s all part of Arsenal’s strategy to distract attention away from our real targets
hopefully edu hasn’t forgotten to look for a striker
Hopefully the Vieira news has made it clear that we don’t know who Edu is looking at.
We are addressing every gap in the squad and we can all see it. Real progress. Onwards and upwards!
I’ve just scouted Lisandro on youtube. What really strikes me is his OUTSTANDING ability on the ball. Far more press-resistant than Gabriel. This guy could easily play DM/CM. If he starts, Arsenal will have at least three outstanding ball-players in the backline (Tomi, White, Lisandro) and Tierney is no slouch. With Arthur Melo ahead of them, Arsenal will slice through any press, even those of Liverpool and Man C. I am excited beyond belief. Arsenal will safely transport the ball into enemy territory and then batter the opposition goal. Did I say I was excited?
I don’t get why this is down voted
Because it is fantasy football. A lot of people have trouble taking seriously someone who says he does his “scouting” on Youtube.
I could get on Love Island based on my YouTube highlights – and I’m a bald bloke with middle aged spread.
I wouldn’t want Arthur (too small) but everything else you said was spot-on.
Selling Gabriel on the cards?
I don’t see us having all of Saliba, Martinez, Gabriel & White next season.
It’s Mari…
Could be wrong but I think the interest in Martinez is due to versatility. Think we need a bit more reliable cover at LB & Gabriel is out only natural leftsided CB. So it makes sense to get someone that can provide cover/competition for both.
Transfer window seems to be going smoothly, I cannot complain about the two new signings. Just gutted that Spuds was able to get Bissouma for £29m. A double pivot of Bissouma and Partey would’ve provided us with speed, strength, and skill. Xhaka works hard and is committed but falls short with regards to skill and speed.
It’s such a shame that skill and speed are required. If it was just commitment and hard work we would have a superstar 😜
Ballon d’or!!
Let’s hope that Bissouma ends up in HMP, if guilty! Spurs will no doubt fund the best defense (in court).
Arteta is tired of Ramsay hoofing the ball long. He is tired of White being pressured because Gabriel is good but not great on the ball. That is why he is going to get Lisandro and Arthur Melo. Press-resistance all over the park.
You really need to learn how to make comments come across as your opinion and not that you’ve just sat and had dinner with Arteta, who has told you all his thoughts lol.
Also we get it you and Arthur Melo had some sort of fling and you can’t get over it.chill on him man
Really? I read day in and day out that Arsenal are getting Tielemans (which is clearly turning out to be wrong). I assert it will be Arthur Melo and get insulted. The Tielemaniacs just try to shut down discussion. What are you worried about? Don’t worry, though, I will state what I think, right or wrong (and, no, I won’t downvote you).
No, on reflection, you have won. This is getting tiresome. Enjoy watching Tielemans play for Arsenal next season. Ciao baby.
It would appear that you’ve just said goodbye to yourself in Italian.
Whatever floats your boat…
As Arthur Melo’s agent, you’re supposed to sell your client to Edu, not the Arseblog community
The Arthur obsession continues….🙄
I sincere feel we don’t need Jesus in this team, cos i dont rate him highly, but we need a striker in the mould of oshimen or slamacca, though oshimen is very expensive
I always fear our main player has to go away on afcon duty.
Afcon has been moved to June/July which obviously is much better than January.
It was only played in January this year because of Covid.
It’s still an inconvenience though as it’s penciled in for 23 June – 23 July 2023 so our African players will likely miss the start of the 2023/24 season when we’re back in the Champions League.
What about Lautaro Martínez from Inter Milan, now that it looks like Inter are signing Lukaku.
Martinez is very settled in Milan… he’s not interested in moving.
Not wishing to moan, but we are ok for Centre Backs and if we sign Hickey, we will have cover for Tierney. (Tavares can make the half time tea, assuming he can be trusted to heat a kettle of water without blowing up the Emirates).
It’s those joyous words new Right Back I want to hear, as we need cover for Tommi. Cedric will cost us vital points in vital games again, if we simply don’t find a replacement for him.
I’m thinking Martinez may be coming in instead of Hickey. Remains to be seen tho
In as much as we would all get excited about any transfer, defense isn’t our priority Atm, what cost us last season was attack, let’s sort out areas of priority… We need a goal scoring left forward, like richarlison or danjuma at Villarreal, …we need goals from the left, just as saka delivers from the right, with a good centre forward, we are good to go, thought we signed one trusty auston fella from mls as cover for LCB?
Signings aren’t made in order of priority. It is possible to have several negotiations happening simultaneously.
Trusty is going out on loan this season; https://www.arsenal.com/news/trusty-signs-club-remains-loan
I’d honestly be surprised if Trusty ever pulls on an Arsenal shirt that he hasn’t had to buy himself. Bloke was signed solely to get him into European football, probably end up selling him to Augsburg in 2 years
Most likely BuLi2
Arteta spoke about taking this club to the next level this window and from the strong links we have you can clearly get an idea he’s trying to. It will be a big change for most fans who are used to a mid table team mentality of a starting 11 and their substitutes, something we have been clearly used to for a long loooooooong time. For example if we sign Raphinha I’d expect some folk losing their heads wondering why we are signing someone as good as Saka instead of an inferior player for cover. You look at liverpool and… Read more »
Raphinha isn’t as good as Saka. NO-ONE is as good as Saka!
Spot on, mate! If we want to be a top team, then our mentality has to change. I do trust Mikel on this one.
Well done. A lot of Arsenal supporters sound like they pay no attention to any other team. In many of Man City’s matches, Guardiola didn’t make even the three substitutions he was allowed–his substitutions were almost always tactical, not to save legs. He saved legs by rotating his (yes, incredibly deep) squad.
Grateful for this!
Top comment here.
At 5ft 9 he is very short for a centre half, and will really struggle in heading duels and set pieces. This must be more about emergency cover and back up for Tierney.
Lisandro is only 5’9 or 175 cm tall. Isn’t that too short for a cb, esp. in the PL.
this is all positive and potential to be our best transfer window for a very long time. No excuses for Arteta if we dont make CL next season
signing this guy likely means the end of granit xhaka at arsenal, which is fine by me
Let the good times roll.
More likely a LBack back up. Doesn’t have the height. But if push comes to shove, possibly there as back up back up.
Tavares should go out on loan.
Nothing overwhelming but if price is reasonable decent enough bc we have priorities elsewhere.