Arsenal in £60m waiting game as Julian Alvarez transfer saga takes fresh twist
Arsenal’s pursuit of Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez may be contingent on selling a player such as Gabriel Martinelli – who is now wanted by Al-Hilal.
The Brazil international scored 11 goals in 53 games for Arsenal last season, as Mikel Arteta’s team won the Premier League title at long last.
However, the 25-year-old was left out of their Community Shield win over Manchester City last weekend and then again in their 3-0 victory over Coventry City on Friday for their Premier League opener.
That prompted Gunners legend Ian Wright to come out in support of the forward, who was the subject of an unsuccessful €45million (£38.5m) offer from Galatasaray earlier this month.
The former England striker said on Sky Sports, “The way Martinelli is being treated at the moment, it really makes me feel uncomfortable. I know they might want him out, and a lot of people might say, ‘yeah, it’s time for him to move him on’.
“But there’s ways of doing that and it should suit him as well, how he wants to leave. Not being involved in the squad, not being spoken to, he doesn’t know what’s going on. And yes, I know this – he doesn’t know what is happening.
“He’s done enough with this squad to be treated with a little bit more respect than he’s being treated with at the moment.”
TEAMtalk previously reported that Arsenal are open to offers for Martinelli – particularly after Christos Tzolis’ summer arrival – whose contract runs until 2027 but there is an option to extend that a further year.
On Sunday, David Ornstein revealed that Arsenal want to sell Martinelli for around £60m, with the player said to be open to a switch to Al-Hilal.
Martinelli tied up in Arsenal’s Alvarez pursuit
Now, journalist Ben Jacobs has spoken about the likelihood of the Brazilian leaving the Emirates and how that could tie in with an Alvarez pursuit, despite Atletico being determined to keep the Argentine after rebuffing Barcelona’s interest.
He told talkSPORT on Sunday, “Well, he’s [Martinelli] got a future if they [Arsenal] don’t sign somebody in that position, but they clearly are sending a message that they’re looking. And if they find [someone], then Martinelli is somebody that they would be prepared to sanction.
“Galatasaray bid €45m. The player didn’t want to go there specifically. There’s interest from Al-Hilal as well. Al-Nassr were the club that were chasing Martinelli in the past. And a year ago, he didn’t want to go to Saudi Arabia. So he’d have to change his perspective there. But this is what clubs do.
“When you’ve got limited time, you pick a matchday squad. Some clubs would argue it’s not so much disrespecting the player as just protecting the player in case there’s a sale and not risking the fact that they could get injured if they play.”
Jacobs did state that if Arsenal are not able to sign another attacker this window, Martinelli could stay. However, this is very much a “waiting game”.
He continued, “Other clubs have bomb squads and want to send a message to a player in Martinelli’s case that would be happy to stay at Arsenal. So I somewhat agree with Ian Wright in the sense that Martinelli has not been told to his face your surplus to requirements.
“But we know if they’re to fund a Julian Alvarez or an equivalent player, Martinelli is the one that they can get a big enough fee for that it would make financial sense. And as a consequence, he’s frozen out for now because Arsenal realise he might be a player that could leave between now and the end of the window.
“And that’s disappointing from the player’s perspective. And it’s a tough one because if they don’t sign someone, he’s back in the fold and he’s very valuable and he knows that. And if they do sign someone, he’s quickly out of the picture. So he has to play a waiting game. And if Arsenal do sign somebody, maybe Martinelli changes his position about staying at Arsenal.”
Sporting director Andrea Berta and his Arsenal colleagues have much to ponder and do before the window shuts on 1 September.
