Arsenal have tabled a second offer for Ajax star Lisandro Martinez, a defender also linked with Premier League rivals Manchester United.
The defender played under new Red Devils’ boss Erik Ten Hag last term in Holland, and is now being linked with a move this summer.
The Gunners appear to be ready to beat United to his signature however after making an improved offer which is believed to be close to their asking price, with De Telegraaf claiming we have offered 40 million euros.
Lisandro is predominantly a centre-back who is comfortable playing at left-back also, and the 24 year-old is being earmarked as a rival to Gabriel Magalhaes role at LCB this summer.
It remains to be seen whether our latest offer will be accepted, but from what I have seen, he is a highly intelligent player who could play in various roles due to his impressive passing and reading of the game. Lisandro would be the latest bargain to leave Holland, and I certainly hope that we can beat United to his signature this summer.
We appear to be making a real statement this summer by strengthening all over the field, and Lisandro would be yet another reason why our rivals should be worried going into the new season, as I believe he would be able to oust the Brazilian centre-back from his role at the back.
Do you agree that Lisandro would likely be an improvement on Gabriel? Could Martinez and Saliba become our new first-choice pairing next season?
Patrick
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Patrick, Whats the point in asking a question about something that has not happened and probably won’t; ie Lisandro Martinez coming to us.
Even if he does arrive, why on EARTH WOULD HE REPLACE OUR BEST DEFENDER, GABRIEL!
Plainly he will not!
You may well be surprised Jon…
Seriously, you must be kidding. If he is the BEST DEFENDER Arsenal would have maintained 4th position !!! Have you observed Gabriel M’s passing? Most of the time his favourite is either side passing or back passing hardly forward passing! No Guts ! (Wasting time!)!
Gabriel is full of mistakes. Almost one big mistake leading to a goal in a game.
Man United, City, Pool, Palace Spurs etc All leading to goals.
Very hot tempered as well. Am happy Saliba will challenge challenge him for his position for him to sit up
There is a big question mark over Gabriel, he does or at least did want to leave. If we got Martinez is it good bye to Gabriel to appease Saliba. Interesting summer. I still predict we will sell one or two bigger stars this summer. We wont keep everyone.
This has been something you are expecting Reggie. Certainly an interesting view and one I’ll follow with interest.
Sue, i dont see 3 left sided CBs at this club, there is something going on but it may be the end of the window before it becomes obvious.
“Do you agree that Lisandro would likely be an improvement on Gabriel? Could Martinez and Saliba become our new first-choice pairing next season?”
our club is so ridiculous at times that these are the kind of questions that can be asked by the Admin of an Arsenal blog…of course, that would potentially require us to sell Gabs, re-up Saliba, and have our 50M homegrown CB sitting on the bench, one year after his signing…mindboggling yet somehow not unexpected
The truth is this squad failed last season, it has some potential but it needs a massive overhall. The manager failed as well but he has been given a contract to try sort it. The pressure is on.
LOL!!! I laughter.
I laughter too😢
If we bring another defender, it means saliba is most likely going to be sold.
if we confirm another defender whatcof saliba
Not going to pretend I know a lot about Martinez but his versatility ticks a lot of boxes – LCB, ĹB, LMF, maybe play the pivot on his own. Reminds me of another Argentinean who wasnt too bad when he turned out for Liverpool and Barcelona a decade or so ago.
There is room for him and Gabriel – we complain about having a thin bench and then find reasons why we shouldn’t bring it competition.
I think you’re missing the point…I’m sure if you have a bit of a rethink you will come to understand why some have expressed their respective concerns regarding this potentially “messy” situation, which has nothing whatsoever to do with this highly skilled player or the sensible notion of positional depth…have a great day
could be our 2nd pairing Martinez/Saliba … id like to see him (Martinez) at 6 aswell… when Partey goes down, he’s got a wild range of skills, if he can shoot aswell they should probably make him illegal
I’m surprised we are being linked to another 50M-rated defender with the impressive height of 5ft 9in. A good partner for the towering Ben While, no doubt, while we try to fix our defensive frailties at set pieces. We would be much better off developing Nuno at LB and using the 50M for a marquee DM.
I’m not crazy about this transfer I think Gabriel is fine enough to continue starting. Is this guy gonna be backup? How often has he played as LB? People are saying Tierney backup, and I don’t really see it. My understand was he played 90% of his games just as a CB. That’s like saying White is a good backup RB when we all know that’s just to fill in a gap and its no long term solution at all. There are enough CB’s here that we should be fine and I dont think it’s a tragedy if we have to play two right footed CB’s if Gabriel were to not be available.
Mari, Gabriel, white, Luiz, (martinez) – it’s like we have to make a significant CB signing in every window now. When are we going to be happy with the centre backs? Can we not go 6 months without getting a new one?
Agree with RSH – it’s unlikely this would be a signing for positions other than CB, because we could be chasing players with a lot more experience in the positions we are concerned about (and thus could have a better idea of how they’d play those positions).
I am all for this guy. Martinez is a versatile player, capable of playing multiple positions. Why should Gabriel be sold, I dont understand. We require squad depth, and that too quality depth, not just to fill in numbers, considering the number of fixtures, injuries, suspensions, rotation, etc. I sometimes dont understand fans, they complain if we dont buy enough players and also complain if we buy players. Very strange.
Its called balancing the books. We can not buy buy buy and we wont. Wait and see what the end of the window brings. We will not have Raphina, Jesus and Saka and we will not have Gabriel, Saliba, Martinez and Tierney all in the squad.