Forget Arsenal signing Leandro Trossard.
Forget about the possibility of signing Moises Caicedo, or Declan Rice, or any other midfielder linked to the Gunners right now.
Arsenal might well wind up bringing Caicedo to the Emirates Stadium, but Edu could reportedly be close to gifting the fanbase an even bigger piece of news.
That’s because David Ornstein claimed on Friday [The Athletic] – as covered by HITC Sport – that Gabriel Martinelli has agreed a new contract in North London.
Say what you want about Caicedo or Rice, but neither are more exciting than Martinelli.
The 21-year-old’s existing contract only runs until 2024 and news of a new long-term extension would be massive for Arsenal, it has to be said.
For much of Arsene Wenger’s spell at the Emirates, the North Londoners were vulnerable to losing major players long before their peak.
Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Alex Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure are all examples of players who were tempted away from the Gunners.
And given Martinelli’s potential, every club in the world would absolutely love to have him in their squad – and they’d pay through the nose if necessary.
Signing Caicedo for £60 million would prove that Mikel Arteta and Edu can draw big players to the club, but keeping their existing ones is an equally-significant factor.
And if and when Martinelli – labelled ‘talent of the century’ by Jurgen Klopp – signs a new long-term contract, it’ll be bigger than anything else they’ve managed in January thus far.
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