Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta will be judged more so on his recruitment than anything else for the club amid links to plenty of players. However, an area which his predecessor Edu Gaspar was widely criticised for, sales, is another key aspect the Italian will be measured on.
The early signs are however positive with the Gunners having agreed to an early sale for winger Marquinhos. The Brazilian was due to be on loan to Cruzeiro until the end of the year but the club have managed to agree a deal in which they will receive most of what they paid Sao Paulo in July of 2022.
Marquinhos was one of very few transfer excursions into South America despite the hype around Edu’s links to the continent. In the end, the club brought in only the then 19-year-old and Pablo Mari from Flamengo.
While making an immediate impact, scoring in the Europa League against FC Zurich, it never clicked for the winger and he struggled to get much game time under Mikel Arteta. When comparing his influence to that of some youngsters who have come through like Ethan Nwaneri, it is perhaps more clear to see why.
A few loan spells with Norwich, FC Nantes and Fluminense couldn’t find Marquinhos a way back into European football. Playing with Cruzeiro, he has scored one goal and has one assist in 10 Campeonato Mineiro appearances for the Brazilian club.
If this is a sign of things to come, then fans will be hoping that Berta can get good fees and swift exits for Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Reiss Nelson. That can then, like this fee for Marquinhos, be reinvested into the potential striker and winger targets that so many are crying out for.
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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