Andrea Berta – the new Director of Football at the Emirates Stadium – has seemingly been busy since his appointment was announced in March.
Arsenal are expected to sign Martin Zubimendi once the 2024/25 campaign is over, with the Spain international likely to replace Jorginho, who seems set to join Flamengo when his contract expires.
A new striker is also wanted at Arsenal, with Berta keen on Viktor Gyokeres – the Sporting CP No.9 with 47 goals in 46 games so far this season.
Furthermore, Mikel Arteta wants a new goalkeeper to compete against David Raya – and the likeliest arrival in that department, Joan Garcia, has now been mentioned by his manager.
TBR Football understand Arsenal actually agreed personal terms with Garcia last summer after selling Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton
However, the Gunners did not want to activate his €25m (£20m) release clause, and opted to take Neto on loan from Bournemouth instead as a temporary option.
Arsenal remain interested in Garcia nonetheless with Neto set to return to the Vitality Stadium in June, and Manolo Gonzalez – the glovesman’s manager at Espanyol – has now admitted his No.1 could depart this time around.
The Metro quote the 46-year-old as saying: “I can’t guarantee that he’ll stay at Espanyol next season. You’re all seeing the level he’s at, which is what it is.
Garcia has played a pivotal role in keeping Espanyol away from relegation trouble this term, impressively keeping seven clean sheets in 31 La Liga appearances, conceding 40 goals in total
Despite agreeing personal terms with the Spaniard last summer, Arsenal do not have a free run at his signature this year.
TBR Football understand Manchester City also want to sign Garcia – with Pep Guardiola prepared to cash in on Ederson as the Brazilian approaches the final 12 months of his contract, and Bayer Leverkusen show interest in Stefan Ortega as part of a potential deal to sell Florian Wirtz to the Citizens.
Therefore, Arteta may end up regretting the decision not to sign the 23-year-old goalkeeper last summer, if he does end up moving to the Etihad Stadium
Lewis-Skelly has taken every chance that he’s been handed by Mikel Arteta at Arsenal and he is now the club’s go-to starter on the left.
Four-time Premier League winner Oleksandr Zinchenko has been completely displaced and Riccardo Calafiori has a hard task to displace the Hale End graduate when he’s fully fit too.
Of course, Lewis-Skelly is only newly-converted as a full-back — he’s spent the entirety of his youth career playing as a midfielder.
Therefore, with Thomas Partey suspended against PSG, perhaps there is some temptation for Arteta to put the youngster into his midfield.
Either way, pundit Alan Shearer had some very complimentary words to share about Lewis-Skelly on ‘The Rest Is Football’ podcast.
The panel were asked if the Arsenal youngster was the best young full-back to burst onto the scene since Micah Richards at Manchester City some years ago.
And although the names of players like Luke Shaw whilst he was at Southampton were also mentioned too, there was unanimous admiration for Lewis-Skelly’s rise.
In particular, Shearer was amazed by Lewis-Skelly’s physique, comparing his legs to ‘tree trunks’.
Shearer said: “His build is, you know, his build, his build is like, he’s so physically strong already, isn’t he?
“I mean, even if you look at his, his legs are like tree trunks already, and strong, thick set, and yeah, it’s just, I mean, everything about him is outstanding, isn’t it
Of course, Arteta does also deserve some credit for how patient he’s been with Lewis-Skelly as well as Ethan Nwaneri.
The club would have been aware that they had two potential superstars emerging in their academy, but Arteta refused to throw the duo into the spotlight too soon, protecting them somewhat.
Then, when Lewis-Skelly was ready for the rigmarole of Premier League football, Arteta came through with his plan.
Lewis-Skelly was brilliant against Real Madrid’s Rodrygo at the Santiago Bernabeu recently and it’s no exaggeration to say that he’s already among the world’s best full-backs.
A priceless talent, and huge success story for Arsenal’s academy.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has overseen a major rebuild at the club since he took the reins in 2019, turning the North Londoners into a force to be reckoned with once again.
Mikel Arteta has been ruthless in his approach, freezing out players he didn’t feel suited his style of management and bringing in players with the right character for him.
However, there are still players at Arsenal who were at the club before Arteta joined and who have prospered under his style of management.
Gabriel Martinelli is one such player, arriving at Arsenal in the summer of 2019 for a fee of just £6million and is now on 218 appearances for the club.
Arteta has now spoken about what makes Martinelli “a fantastic player to work with” in wake of his 50th goal for Arsenal.
Arteta, speaking to the press ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace, explained how Martinelli is “in the right path” to success, considering how well he has done at N5.
Arteta said Martinelli’s work ethic makes him a perfect fit for the Arsenal dressing room, and stressed that he is “very, very happy with him
When asked whether he felt Martinelli is a bit overlooked, Arteta told reporters, via football.london: “Certainly not by us.
“But you know, when you look at the consistency shown over the last few years and the amount of goals he has scored at his age, and the contribution to a big club like Arsenal is not easy at all. So, I think he’s in the right path.
“He’s a fantastic player to work with, his work ethic, his understanding, his desire to play every minute of every competition. That’s the kind of characters and leaders that we want in the team. And I’m very, very happy with him.
Martinelli hasn’t had the easiest of campaigns, having struggled with form at the start of this term and then suffering an injury in February
However, he is now firing on all cylinders again, scoring in his last two games and reminding everyone just how good he is.
Arteta doesn’t look like he’s planning to move Martinelli on any time soon and, likewise, the player has made it clear he loves the Gunners.
Back in 2022, when Arsenal were trying to tie Martinelli down to a new contract, the forward publicly claimed that he wants to stay at the club forever.
He told ESPN Brasil at the time: “Of course, Arsenal are a giant team. If I can, I’ll stay here my whole life. I want to conquer things, I already said, I want to stay here and win titles, with this wonderful crowd, my teammates.
“We have a young group, we have a lot of time ahead of us, players with a lot of quality, I think we will achieve great things.
Having failed to score for five UEFA Champions League games and seven Premier League outings in a row, the Brazil international has netted successive goals in both competitions.
The Arsenal No.11 struck a 93rd minute winner inside the Santiago Bernabeu to cap a historic 5-1 aggregate win over Real Madrid last week, before scoring the second as the Gunners thrashed Ipswich Town 4-0 on Sunday.
As Gabriel Martinelli starts to find some form and step up for Mikel Arteta ahead of a crucial clash against PSG, it is worth a look back at what the French media said about him in October.
When Foot Mercato called Gabriel Martinelli “invisible”
Arsenal beat PSG 2-0 back in October during a UEFA Champions League ‘league phase’ clash at the Emirates Stadium, with goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka securing all three points.
However, Martinelli struggled. The South American lost possession on five occasions, was dribbled past twice and completed just 14 passes in 90 minutes, which led French news outlet Foot Mercato to call him “invisible” in a damning match report and hand him a rating of five out of ten.
To his credit, the man from Guarulhos has kept going, and with just a week remaining until Arsenal and PSG meet again in the last four of the UEFA Champions League, he can boast nine goals and six assists in 44 appearances so far this season.
If Martinelli – who Thierry Henry recently called “outstanding” – opted to use Foot Mercato’s scathing report as motivation, it seems to have worked.
After what Foot Mercato wrote about him in October, the 23-year-old is eager to silence his doubters and become a European champion
Martinelli is baying for blood against PSG, with the Mirror quoting the Brazilian as saying: “There’s a month and a half to go if I’m not wrong. I will just try to build the momentum and the win in Madrid will give us confidence. We will go for it.
“We’ve still got the league to play for, we will try to give our best to win the games and we’re not going to go to the games to draw or something like that. We want to win every single game that we play and just try to build momentum. A club like Arsenal has to win the biggest titles – we’re going for it.”
Only time will tell if Foot Mercato – who presumably want PSG to knock Arsenal out – will regret their words about Martinelli.
