It’s time for Arsenal to move on from Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez

Ajax don’t want to lose their 2021/22 Player of the Season this summer. They’ve made that abundantly clear.

Both Arsenal and Manchester United have been heavily linked with a move for Lisandro Martinez, but prising the Argentine international away from the Dutch capital is proving to be an arduous task.

The Gunners’ interest culminated in a pair of bids that fell short of Ajax’s valuation of the player before United had a £42m bid of their own rebuffed by the Dutch giants. According to De Telegraaf’s Mike Verweij (via @TheEuropeanLad), Ajax are now demanding £52m upfront for Martinez’s services.

It’s time for Arsenal to move on from Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez

https://twitter.com/TheEuropeanLad/status/1546355832622915586

United had moved ahead of Arsenal in the race for Martinez with Erik ten Hag’s links to the player believed to be key. However, the door hadn’t been completely closed on the Gunners as reports emerged of the Argentine’s admiration for Mikel Arteta.

Nevertheless, Arsenal’s links to Martinez have gone quiet over the past week and Ajax’s latest valuation increase should convince the club to drop out of the race entirely.

While I’ve argued that Martinez would be the most intriguing signing of the Arteta era thus far, the Gunners can ill-afford to splurge such a vast sum on a player that’d initially be providing depth – albeit at several positions. The Argentine boasts a freakish, utterly unique profile and it would’ve been SO intriguing to see him slot into Arteta’s system – potentially as an inverted left-back.

He would’ve bolstered the technical level of the Gunners’ build-up considerably, while his bullish nature could’ve added an edge to an Arsenal side that were bullied at times on the road last season.

But the time has come for Arsenal to begin exploring alternatives, which it looks like they are. Benfica’s Alex Grimaldo has been linked with the club in a low-cost, low-risk deal and he could replace his former teammate, Nuno Tavares, as Kieran Tierney’s back-up.

The Athletic’s David Ornstein also writes that former Tottenham full-back Kyle Walker-Peters is on the club’s radar. While primarily a right-back, the England international often lined up at left-back for Southampton last season. His two-footedness and capacity to play both full-back positions meant he was included in my ‘full-backs to target this summer’ piece.

The Premier League-proven Walker-Peters could be available at almost half the price of Martinez.