Arsenal: Gabriel Martinelli is one thing, but Fagner?

Edu drove Gabriel Martinelli and Arsenal together, but is Fagner another great idea or one tiny step farther than we need to go?

Edu hasn’t even taken over as technical director of Arsenal yet, but he’s already pushing buttons and pulling strings. And it all started where we knew it would—with Gabriel Martinelli. The 18-year-old attacker was formally announced as the Gunners first signing of the summer and now Edu is trying to push his coming club to another Brazilian—Fagner.

Fagner has quite the reputation in the Brazilian Serie A, making over 200 appearances en route to becoming who many refer to as the best rightback in the league. At 30-years-old, Edu reportedly thinks that he could be the necessary rightback reinforcement that Unai Emery needs.

I’ll be upfront with you, I don’t know much about Fagner. Just like I don’t know much about Gabriel Martinelli. But the one key difference between the two should be obvious—age. They are separated by 12 years.

It’s no secret that the Gunners could use rightback help. Hector Bellerin will miss the start of the year and some still doubt Ainsley Maitland-Niles‘ ability to play as a traditional rightback. That’s why we’ve seen links to the likes of Thomas Meunier.

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But in terms of pertinence, it’s not that big on the list. If needed, Shkodran Mustafi can play rightback, since apparently we just can’t sell him.

My problem with Fagner isn’t just his age. It’s about the deficit in competitive levels between Serie A and the Premier League. For someone like Martinelli, there is plenty of time to develop and grow. He’s still in his formative years. But if I’ve learned anything from Mesut Ozil, it’s that once you hit a certain age, playing a certain style, you can’t be expected to change any more. Fagner has carved out a nice reputation for himself in Brazil, but what are the odds that that actually translates over to England?

If you take Stephan Lichsteiner as an example, you’ll see what I mean. There’s a guy with a fantastic reputation at one of the best clubs in the world but in England? Nothing. Might as well not have been there.

I don’t jive with this Fagner idea and I don’t think I need to know much about him as a player to make that assessment. I don’t think Edu has earned what would be the blind trust of us fans yet. And Fagner is 100% blind trust.