Arsene Wenger had a long history at Arsenal of buying and nurturing 100s of attacking central midfielders and using them on the wing as training for a role in the middle in the future. I would say the only out and out winger the Gunners have had in the last few years was Theo Walcott, and even he wanted to play in the centre! And we all know how that worked out…
So now that Unai Emery is the man in charge hopefully all this chopping and changing positions will stop and we will be in dire need of a proper winger to provide quality crosses for PEA. Today it is being reported that we are keen on bringing in the Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins who has a £52.7m release clause in his current contract that runs to 2022.
That is not such a bad price for him considering he is only 23 and still has room for improvement, despite scoring 13 goals and providing 13 assists for Sporting this season. It would probably be a good idea to get a deal in place before the World Cup, as Gelson will be playing alongside Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva and will be one of the favourites to go a long way in the elite competition. A good showing and Gelson could easily be taken out of our reach…
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