Arsenal: Gelson Martins dream seems too good to be true

Arsenal’s needs tend to askew away from a winger, but this is unfortunate. Gelson Martins changes that, and refocuses the priority.

We’ve talked at length here at Pain in the Arsenal about the needs of this club. Midfield, defense and keeper, primarily. But we can’t forget about the need for a winger. Preferably two.

The problem is that there are currently zero true wingers at Arsenal, and that leaves them painfully lacking in the speed, width, and secondary options department. They have an overloaded creative midfield with no other recourse should it fail.

Getting enough of a presence on the wings in a summer of cut budgets is going to be next to impossible. What are we supposed to do, buy two wingers? I’d be surprised if they were able to buy one.

Why? Because wingers are expensive. Very expensive. Guys like Leon Bailey are going for anywhere between £50m and £100m and Ousmane Dembele isn’t going to be much different.

Seeing as ho this summer is all about budget solutions, I have long maintained the unfortunate belief that solving the winger famine at this club may have to wait until we have more funds at our disposal.

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That is, until the reports that Gelson Martins could be available for free. In what was completely news to me, SkySports is reporting that, after being attacked at the club’s training ground last month, Martins and several other Sporting Lisbon players may move to terminate their contracts for ‘just cause.’

This would make Martins available for a reasonable transfer fee of £0m.

The Gunners already solved the tertiary – yet still important – need at right back for free when they added Stephan Lichtsteiner, so to think that they could take a massive step towards fixing the painful gap at winger for a similar rate is simply a dream.

So much so that it feels almost unreal. Nothing is set in stone yet, and I would be surprised if these players were allowed to terminate their contracts so easily, but hypothetically, all the Gunners would have to do is sell Martins on the Arsenal way and reap the rewards.

With the cast of characters that they have, on and off the pitch, and with what they can offer Martins in terms of guaranteed playing time, I actually don’t think it would be too difficult of a sell. But then again, I’m a bit biased.

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Whatever the case, this dream seems possible, and so long as that is the case, I’ll find the time to believe that it can happen.

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