Former Arsenal man, Kevin Campbell, believes Marquinhos will stay in the Arsenal first team if he keeps playing as he did on his debut.
The attacker joined the Gunners in the last transfer window, but he was expected to spend the season with their under23’s or out on loan.
He shone for the Arsenal youth team in this campaign and had his chance with the first team in their Europa League game against FC Zurich.
His performance in that match impressed the club’s fans and coaches, and he could now get more playing chances.
Campbell believes he will remain in the group if he keeps performing well.
He tells Football Insider:
“He has far exceeded expectations already though. Let’s be honest, if he performs like he did against FC Zurich regularly he is going nowhere. I can tell you that much.
“Mikel Arteta will need him to play in the cup games and be a deputy for [Bukayo] Saka. We’ve seen that he can come on and be that spark of lightning. He can bring in electricity to the game.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Any player that proves he belongs at this level will definitely get his chance to play for the club.
Marquinhos was prepared for that and took it when it arrived, now he has to keep pushing the players ahead of him on the pecking order.
Campbell is dead right. Arteta should actually be happy that he has someone who can easily fill Saka’s position in case of injuries. Arsenal is well known to struggle when injuries visit regular players. So Arteta should not send Marqhinous on loan since to me he is already ripe.