Arsenal: What would Everton Soares signing mean to Gabriel Martinelli?

Arsenal are reportedly gearing up to sign Everton Soares from Gremio, which is amazing, but what does that mean for Gabriel Martinelli?

When Arsenal named Edu their new Sporting Director, everyone knew what was coming. This club would suddenly have a brand new link to South American talent like they’d never had in the past. It showed when we landed Gabriel Martinelli with ease, and it is showing again in the pursuit of Gremio winger Everton Soares.

The deal isn’t done yet, but the reports are that Soares will command a free of £25m, plus another £11m in add-ons. Which isn’t much to pay, yet for the Gunners, it really is.

My question, though, is what his imminent arrival means (or… would mean) to Gabriel Martinelli. Martinelli is five years Soares’ junior, he was the first Brazilian connection, he is gunning for a shot at the first team… but he plays the same position as Everton Soares. Left wing.

I’ve spent a good amount of time this summer talking about our current winger options—Reiss Nelson, Bukayo Sako, Emile Smith Rowe and, of course Martinelli.

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A bit of internal competition to get the most out of these kids seems like a fantastic idea, especially with the complete lack of transfer movement on any of these winger options like Wilfried Zaha or Ryan Fraser.

But the sudden urgency that the club is going after Everton Soares may make some wonder what this means for Gabriel Martinelli, and if this is an indication that maybe Martinelli is going to find his way blocked by his countryman who is by no means old.

This is where the beauty of the winger situation at Arsenal comes into play though. And yes, I said beauty. Because with a wide open position, there isn’t a limit to how much winger we can have. So while Everton Soares does in fact play the same position as Martinelli, and on the same side, nothing is locking one or the other into a role, and nothing is saying that Martinelli can’t beat out Soares, if that’s how it plays out.

Unai Emery goes by usefulness, not by how much he paid for a player. We saw that perfectly clear last year.

All adding Soares would do is make everyone else get better. It plays into the same internal competition set-up that we had talked about previously. Which is to say we have nothing to lose.