Arsenal: Even Gelson Martins’ obstacles aren’t really obstacles

Arsenal need speed from wide angles, but they need it for cheap, which is next to impossible. Gelson Martins is very possible, though.

Arsenal’s list of needs are all being addressed in prompt and frugal fashion, to the point that it’s almost scary how easy they are making it look.

Who’d have thought that before the World Cup was even through the group stages, we’d have a new right back and a new keeper already locked up with a midfielder already partially announced (in the form of his now-former team’s president admitting a sale) and a centerback supposedly ready as well.

It’s like the people who are now in charge are making up for years of neglect in actually addressing needs instead of hoping they will address themselves.

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And now all this stuff with Gelson Martins. When he still had his release clause, I was not very optimistic that anything would come of the links.

But then he ripped up his contract and is available for a free, following reports of an incident at the training grounds of Sporting Lisbon.

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Martins is the real deal. He has speed for days, he knows his way around the goal box, he can drive the ball all the way to the corner and work it in from there – he’s a winger through and through, something the Gunners haven’t had in some time.

However, a complication emerged in the pursuit of Martins – a complication that would involve the fee with which he could be acquired.

According the Express (dubious), Martins is requiring that the Gunners pay any fees that he incurred from prematurely ending his contract – should there be any.

Okay. That’s fine. Is that it?

Because despite technically being an obstacle, that little development is hardly an obstacle at all. That is, unless the fee for prematurely ending his contract happens to be the same as his release clause prior to ending it. Which – spoiler alert – it isn’t.

Martins can be another remarkably easy solution for the Gunners in a summer that many assumed was going to be painstakingly difficult. I know I did. Very little money and far too many needs is rarely a good combination, but they are making it work.

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This is another deal that won’t proceed until after the World Cup, as Martins is flying with the Portuguese national team, but until then, if these are the only kinds of obstacles that come up, then we are in exceptional shape.