Arsenal: Gelson Martins may have to be patient

Gelson Martins reportedly wants a move to Arsenal this summer. Unfortunately, though, the Sporting Lisbon winger may have to be patient as he waits for it. The Gunners will delay and delay to get the best possible deal.

At this early stage in the transfer window — the new season doesn’t officially commence until July 1st –, there is a myriad of potential moves that are often talked about, many of which are at little more than the scouting-out stage, one that comprises of enquiries about the player’s availability, the price that might need to be paid, the wage demands of the player, agent fees, and other preliminary clauses.

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That means that are many players that will have been contacted by potential suitors that could have had their heads turned. We hear of these instances every window: Club makes enquiry for player X; player X is attracted to the club and then tries to engineer a move there.

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For Arsenal, it seems as though that process has already begun with one individual, in particular, Gelson Martins of Sporting Lisbon. The young winger has been touted as a possible target for a plethora of top European clubs this summer after a breakthrough season in which he reached double figures in both goals and assists. And it was suggested that the Gunners were one of the leading contenders for his signature.

Well, now that report, which stemmed from Portuguese publication A Bola, has developed. The tune is now this: Arsenal have made a second bid, again worth £30 million, and are hoping that the building pressure to sell will see them engineer a bargain-priced transfer, pressure that is now coming from Martins himself who quite fancies a move to the Emirates.

It’s very much a take-it-or-leave-it type report. I certainly struggle believing it, though I do concede that it is probable that there is both interest from the club and the player, for the right price. The problem for Martins, though, if he does indeed want this transfer to go ahead, is the history of the rumoured pursuers.

Arsenal will do everything to get value. They will even abandon signing a player if they do not feel that they are not getting value for him — they once pulled out of a deal for Mark Schwarzer because of quibbles over £1 million. If they feel that they can get a cheaper price by playing a waiting game and slowly building the pressure to sell on Lisbon, which they most likely will do, then they will play that game, even at risk of another club sweeping in and stealing Martins from under their noses.

Martins, I am sure, will want a swift conclusion to this. Any player would. It is natural for anybody to want a settled and certain working environment. Unfortunately, that is not what he is going to get. Even without any bids having been made, which I believe is more likely to be true, if there is interest from Arsenal, it will not materialise into a serious and genuine chase quickly.

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For the Gunners, patience brings a better price. Given their history, they will do nothing but be patient, then. Martins will just have to be patient with them.