Arsenal loudly closed the Gabriel Martinelli door, but quietly revealed something much bigger
The theme of this summer for Arsenal has been, well, Brazilian left-sided attackers. Whether or not a move for Vinícius Júnior was ever actually likely, we'll never truly know, but the fact of the matter is, he is not coming to North London, having signed a six-year contract at Real Madrid. Nevertheless, there has still been a fair amount of change when it comes to Mikel Arteta's left-sided attacking options.
Leandro Trossard has been sold to Beşiktaş for around €20 million, making his debut for the Black Eagles as they beat Hradec Králové in a Europa League qualifier at Tüpraş Stadyumu on Thursday night. The Belgian has been replaced by Christos Tzolis, joining from Club Brugge for €40 million, and he's looked sharp in pre-season, scoring against Girona before bagging assists during defeats to Real Betis and Borussia Dortmund.
The signing of Tzolis, alongside the pursuit of Vini Jr, makes it undeniable that Arsenal were open to selling Martinelli this summer. However, that now appears hugely unlikely to happen at this stage. As reported by David Ornstein of the Athletic, the Brazilian's representatives have made it clear that he has "no interest in joining Galatasaray". This comes after the Turkish Süper Lig champions made a bid of €45 million for the 25 year old on Wednesday.
Ornstein adds that Arsenal accept "more departures will be necessary" before the 1 September deadline, with Trossard and Christian Nørgaard, who has gone to Everton for £7 million, the only sales to date. So, what does this mean for Arsenal's transfer business on the left-side of attack?
Well, the fact they wanted Morgan Rogers, before being gazumped by Chelsea, and then Vinícius as already outlined, shows that Arteta clearly believes this is a position that requires an upgrade. Whether Tzolis in and Trossard out if viewed as enough remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, if Martinelli stays put, then the arrival of an expensive new recruit, when Arteta also already has Eberechi Eze too, feels borderline impossible. Numerous clubs have purportedly shown interest in Martinelli, including AS Roma, but Galatasaray were the first to make a move, only for Martinelli to seemingly show no interest in swapping North London for İstanbul.
Thus, unless something dramatic happens, Arteta will be tasked with getting the best out of what he has got in attack. Martinelli scored only one Premier League goal last season, with substantially better demanded this time round, even if it was the most-important goal of them all, namely the stoppage time equaliser against Manchester City.
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