Arsenal are reportedly planning a £5 million bid to Ituano in order to sign Brazilian wonderkid and former Manchester United trialist Gabriel Martinelli.
The Mirror have reported a bid made by Arsenal for Brazilian wonderkid Gabriel Martinelli. The Ituano youngster, who once had a trial at Manchester United two years ago, has been linked with Arsenal for a while now. And it seems the Gunners have decided to convert the interest into something serious, with a £5 million offer tabled for the forward, who is also courting interest from Barcelona.
According to a report from Fox Sports Brasil, there have not been bids tabled but Arsenal were prepared to offer up to £5 million for the 17-year-old Ituano wonderkid. Having featured 31 times for the Ituano senior team over the last two seasons, Gabriel Martinelli has been blazing through the matches, with six goals in the Paulista Championship to help the club finish second.
Local giants like Corinthians, Palmeiras and Flamengo have all expressed an interest in the winger while the Mirror report also names Barcelona, Leeds United and Middlesbrough among the ones with an interest in the former Manchester United trialist.
?| A quick look at Gabriel Martinelli, a future Gunner apparently!???⚪️ pic.twitter.com/zz7ucdROvB
— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) March 27, 2019
Arsenal have been interested in Martinelli for a while now. The Gunners do not have natural options in the wide areas in attack and are looking for low-money moves to fill up the positions, thanks to the budget restrictions imposed by the board on Unai Emery.
While Arsenal have shown interest in other targets like Yannick Carrasco, Ismaila Sarr and Marcus Thuram recently, there is a general consensus that Martinelli would cost a lot less than the three names mentioned above.
The success of Brazilian stars like Gabriel Jesus and Richarlison in the Premier League could be another thing that might have helped Arsenal make their mind up about moving for the 17-year-old.
Barcelona though, are also credited with an interest and might attempt to play spoilsport. The Catalans have amped up their scouting and recruitment from Latin America and have recently signed Emerson from Brazil. Gabriel Martinelli could be another prospect Barcelona find interesting enough to table a serious offer.
Ideally, Arsenal would love to get their hands on Martinelli, but it would largely depend on the price tag Ituano slap on the winger.