Arsenal confirm Brazilian forward as their first signing of the summer

Arsenal have confirmed the signing of 19-year-old Brazilian Marquinhos as they look to repeat their Gabriel Martinelli trick, with the teenager penning a ‘long-term deal’ at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are expected to have another busy summer following their failure to secure Champions League football last campaign, with suggestions that they could be willing to follow up their £150m expenditure last summer with a similar outlay this time around.

The likes of Gabriel Jesus and Youri Tielemans have both been strongly linked with a move to north London, but the first signing is clearly a look to the future rather than an attempt to directly improve the first XI, with Marquinhos having made just 33 Brazilian Serie A appearances.

Welcome, Marquinhos 🙌

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) June 13, 2022

In a statement, the club revealed:

‘The young forward, who has represented Brazil at under-16 and under-17 levels, will travel to London from Brazil in the coming weeks to join up with his new team mates for pre-season training.’

Transfer director Edu added ‘We’re delighted to have completed the transfer with Sao Paulo, as Marquinhos was a player we had been watching for a while. At 19, he is still very young, so he is a player for the future. We look forward to Marquinhos now joining us for pre-season, making his new home, and continuing to grow and develop with us.’

What role will Marquinhos play at Arsenal?

As mentioned above, it is expected that the Sau Paulo forward will be offered a chance to show his qualities during pre-season, which officially begins on 27th June. Should he excel, he may well be included in the first team in the same way that Gabriel Martinelli was upon his move to north London.

However, he seems more likely at present to feature in the U23s for the foreseeable future, while perhaps featuring in Cup games and Europa League ties.