There are many Arsenal fans that think that Arsene Wenger’s next marquee signing should be a top class striker in the summer, and Le Prof himself has already praised the Porto striker Jackson Martinez who has a brilliant scoring record in Portugal.
Wenger said two weeks ago: “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].”
Now Costa himself has made it clear that Martinez will be available if Arsenal decide to pay the reported £29.5million transfer fee. “Jackson almost left last summer but we agreed he’d stay one more year,”Costa said in the Metro. “If somebody pays his value he will go.”
There were rumours of a bid for Columbian international last summer and Wenger obviously admires the prolific hitman. Martinez himself has already stated that he would like to join the Gunners if the chance arrived. He said: “As a child I cheered for Arsenal, they play a game that suits me. If I had the occasion to play there, I would say yes.”
That was a very blatant come-and-get-me plea and it could have been because Arsenal were in talks with Porto. Is it feasible to think that the two clubs agreed to wait another 12 months before finalising the deal?