This time last week all Arsenal fans had given up on signing the prolific Porto striker Jackson Martinez, with reports saying that the 28 year-old was just days away from agreeing to join AC Milan, but suddenly today Milan have decided to pull out of negotiations.
Amid talks of AC Milan spending above their means have unfolded, the Spanish giants have already been gazumped by their greatest rivals Inter Milan for the signing of Geoffrey Kondogbia, and it seems they have now decided they can no longer compete with other clubs (hopefully Arsenal!) to sign Martinez.
The Milan CEO Adrian Galliano tried to put a brave face on their failure to land two of their main targets when he was quoted as saying on La Gazzetta dello Sport: “If we save €40m on Kondogbia and €35m on Jackson Martinez, we will have another €75m to spend wisely over the rest of the transfer window,”
“Whether it is a good or a bad thing, only time will tell.”
It may be a bad thing for AC Milan, but this could be great news for Arsenal. Wenger has already told the world that Martinez would be perfect for the Premier League when he said back in February: “He has top physical strengths. Hugely efficient, he is the kind of player who can make room for himself in the box.
“He could play in the Premier League because he has the body to make the difference. He uses it in a very intelligent way. Very short back lift and he’s a very good finisher.’
“He’s on the list of many clubs, you know that. He will be the next big transfer who will give a big smile to Pinto da Costa [Porto’s owner].”
Could he also be set to give a big smile to all us Arsenal fans? Watch this space…..
The Italian giants.
Arsenal agree personal terms with Petr Cech – Sky Sports. Kondogbia agrees terms with Inter – Inter Official.One transfer target in and one out.
You sure about cech?
There’s several DM options, there was 1 GK option. Good business so far…
i hope we dont get Petr Cech
y not?
we need a gk badly……
I hope you’re joking
How many people on here have watched Martinez on a weekly basis, I know I haven’t!
It’s easy to get caught up in the media hype of players, but if you look at his stats he’s only been prolific since he joined Porto, is this a reflection of the poor competition in the Portuguese league, or a true indication of his ability?
Very true, and i admit to having seen him play for his country more so than club, and even that was small number of time as hes not even a starter. I seen a little of him in CL but what im going by more so than what ive seen is Arsenes seal of approval.
Not convinced by him myself. Anyone see him in Copa America? He was pretty average..
Buy griezmann and Cavani
Its one thing saying id like Griezmann and Cavani or id like us to try our luck and put a bid in but to say buy Greizmann and Cavani like its a case of just buying them. Cavani is at psg on massive wages and the Frenchman was only signed last season so it would be very difficult to get one of these players never mind two.
arsenal are not interested in martinez, its martinez and his agent who are desparate to come to arsenal and are spreading rumours. only striker arsenal would be interested in is benzema and he is not available yet.
Something goofy is going on with Martinez. I’m shocked Columbia hasn’t started him ahead of Falcao, who’s been absolute rubish– no surprise!– at the Copa America. South American football can be, um, corrupt. Remember when the Brazil was forced to play Ronaldo– despite being seriously ill– in the 1998 WC final against France because of a huge promotional payoff from Nike obligated them to play him? Maybe something like that is happening Columbia because you got to think that, on the strength of their most recent club years, Martinez should get the nod ahead of Falcao.
Then again, maybe it’s Martinez who’s undergoing unreported problems. Last week, the AC Milan prez announced a deal with him was imminent. Now he’s backing out. Odd.
Without AC Milan bidding against us, Martinez’s transfer price will go down drastically. If we’re willing to wait this out, we might get him for as little as 15 million pounds. Then again, given these developments, maybe we shouldn’t want him. Do we wait and see if a Marco Reuss or Ibra go on the market late?
Porto aren’t exactly pushovers when it comes to negotiations… Seriously every player they’ve sold in the past few seasons has been for craaaazy money!!
If negotiations were in place for a supposed 30-35million dollar move this early in the window, I highly doubt they’re going to hit the panic button and halve their evaluation.
It depends on who else bids. It’s an embarrassment that he’s riding the bench in favor of a broken-down Falcao. Signing a guy who’s Columbia’s 3rd string striker (after Falcao and Carlos Bacca) shouldn’t be a super-big money move. Plus, can we honestly say he’d be a clear-cut improvement over Giroud & Theo? Three years ago, Porto bought him for about 7 million pounds from a Mexican league team. Let them doouble their money, but no more.
Josh37– I just looked this up. You might have a point. James Rodriguez 45 Mil Euro, Hulk 40 Mil Euro, Mangala -> Man City 40 Mil Euro, Joao Moutinho 25 mil Euro. Still, they let Fernando go for 15 Mil Euro and just last year sold Nicolas Otamendi to Valencia for 12 mil Euro (Otamendi may soon be sold to ManU for 35 mil Euro).
Still, if we’re going to splash 30-35 mil pounds, I want it to be on someone who’ll be a clear-cut first-choice for us. I just don’t see Jackson Martinez being that guy. I’d rather we wait and see who else becomes available.
Because Falcao is a living legend in Colombia, they worship the ground he walks on, thats why he gets the nod.
We dont buy to buy there was no special player available that would improve us,we have depth in squad we have girou alexis welbeck sanogo is back who all can play striker,we have ospina who is top keeper look at his stats,dm we he 3 of them.So those will be Wenger excuses after the window I honestly dont expect any signing in this transfers.Cech will join the spurs wait and see
Haha there’s optimism, realism, pessimism and then the blindly pessimistic…
Even when every possible source is heavily linking us with a move for Cech you somehow believe that Spurs and their mighty allure of the Europa league will snake our deal??
I want to hear from either Wenger,Jose or cech himseif say am joining arsenal cant believe it from any source those,responsible for transfers also have mouths
But until you do you’re just going to blindly assume he’ll join spurs based on absolutely nothing at all??
martinez will turn 29 in a few months so i hope we dont go paying stupid money for him.
If we are going to go for a player who is currently in an inferior league then it should be someone younger like lacazette.
With kondogbia signing at inter we also need to get carvallo from sporting ASAP.
With czechs imminent arrival and these two we will seriously be challenging for the PL.
Diego Costa had ONLY one excellent season in a “not-so-tough-as-EPL” league before he joined Chelsea. This guy Martinez has had THREE excellent seasons in Portugal and in Europe (Europa, UCL)- to a reasonable degree!!
Can you honestly argue Diego Costa has got more ability than this guy?
I used Costa as a benchmark because in his debut season, he undoubtedly became one of the elite CF!
@Stubil.
Who knew Falcao before his time at Porto? Who knew him at Riverplate? He drew attention of everyone by his goal record in Portugal (not much better than Martinez’s). So is Falcao a sh*t average striker then? Maybe on recent performance -yes. But we can remember clearly his exploits in Europe and outside Portugal. He is still a player of huge pedigree. The likes of Hulk and James Rodriguez comes to mind.
Bottom line: Don’t judge Martinez simply by the league he plays in and the club he plays for. He is proper CF -better than most.
I’m personally torn on a lot of our rumoured striking targets. There’s so many arguments for or against the majority of them and I think a very strong factor that isn’t really being discussed is how they will deal with fierce competition and whether or not they will be able to replicate their previous form in other leagues with, at first, sporadic first-team appearances..
The only attackers to come into the league and produce devastating form straight off the bat in recent times have been Hazard, Sanchez, Aguero and Costa and they all share that killer instinct, immense work-rate and never say die attitude. I have question marks over the rumoured targets of Martinez, Higuain and Benzema, though immensely talented, will be happy to come in, bust their guts out in training and come off the bench with 10-20mins remaining and put in performances that demand a first-team place? As players, they are used to being the undisputed number one in their respective teams and in recent seasons we’ve seen the impact not playing regular football week in/week out can have on great strikers confidence such as Falcao, Soldado and even Judas (RVP) when not getting regular looks into the first-team.
I’m aware a lot of fans share the belief that Giroud is not good enough to be our number one striker, so for arguments sake, we lure a top-top striker who has a far better game than Giroud, they still have to settle, develop an understanding with their team-mates and adjust to the speed and physicality of the league which could take quite some time. Our team is far too balanced and strong at the moment to not find rhythm and momentum in our attacking game and if Giroud finds the form he has shown he’s capable of finding, are they going to have the hunger to fight to try their hardest to displace him??
Just food for thought haha.
I personally feel the most positive I have in a long time about the current squad. Our future generation is looking amazing and we’re soooo close!! As quickly as possible adaption and likelihood of making a strong impact from the get-go should actually be a higher priority than potential longevity at the club IMO.
@josh37.
You make a very excellent point worth considering! I see where you are coming from and I agree those concerns are quite valid though often neglected by many.
Our striker target will be bought on the last day. Deadlines can create wonders. Let’s get Cech and Schneiderlin now, sell some of our players that need to be sold and wait for the last day.
Personally I am not convinced Martinez is an upgrade over Giroud.