Arsenal start talks to sign “magnificent” £85m star

The start of this season felt unusually tough for Arsenal, with visits to Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City all within the first month and a half.

Unfortunately, next year looks set to be just as tough, with an opening game away to Manchester United quickly followed by games against Liverpool and City.

So, the best way for Andrea Berta and Co to help Mikel Arteta and his side prepare for a gruelling introduction to the 25/26 Premier League season is by signing some seriously talented players who’ll elevate the squad.

Fortunately, recent reports have linked the Gunners to an incredibly exciting left-winger who’d do just that, although it would be bad news for Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal’s winger search

While most fans have been crying out for Arsenal to sign a striker for a couple of windows now, it’s arguably just as important that they add at least one more wide player to the squad this summer.

It appears that that’s an opinion shared by the club, as in recent weeks and months, countless reports have linked them to incredible talents like Nico Williams and Bradley Barcola.

However, with the former now looking like he’s on his way to Barcelona and the latter now a target for German behemoths Bayern Munich, the North Londoners might need to look elsewhere, which could explain the links to Kenan Yıldız.

According to reports from JuveFC, Arsenal are now interested in Juventus’ young dynamo.

The report claims that the Gunners and London rivals Chelsea have ‘re-engaged in discussions’ to assess the possibility of signing the talented winger this summer.

Interestingly, the report claims that as the Old Lady do not want to sell the Turkish talent, they have placed a price tag of €100m – £85m – on his head, and yet it also states that offers in the region of €70m – £60m – might be considered.

It would be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but given Yıldız’s ability and potential, it’s one Arsenal should pursue, especially as he’d be an upgrade on Martinelli.

How Yıldız compares to Martinelli

Now, one of Yıldız’s biggest strengths is that he can play in several positions, be that in midfield, up top, second striker and off the right, but his natural and most played position is left-wing, which is where he’d sure play at Arsenal.

Therefore, his primary competitor for game time in North London would be Martinelli, so how do the pair stack up against one another?

Well, when it comes to pure output, it is the Juventus star who comes out on top, as in 49 appearances, totalling 3332 minutes, the “magnificent” gem, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, scored ten goals and provided seven assists, which comes out to a goal involvement every 2.88 games, or every 196 minutes.

In contrast, the Gunners’ number 11 scored ten goals and provided six assists in 51 appearances, totalling 3564 minutes, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 3.18 games, or every 222.75 minutes.

Unfortunately for the Brazilian international, the comparison only becomes more one-sided when we take a look under the hood at their underlying numbers.

For example, while he does better in a couple of metrics like shots on target and progressive carries, the young Turkish star does far better in almost every other relevant statistic, such as non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes, shot and goal-creating actions, shots, passing accuracy, key passes, tackles and many, many more, all per 90.

Ultimately, while Martinelli could remain an incredibly useful squad player next season, it’s clear that Yıldız is the far superior winger in practically every metric and four years his junior, so Arsenal should be doing all they can to sign him this summer.

Related

He’d make Saka more unplayable: Arsenal open talks to sign £90m “machine”

Arsenal could make Saka even more unplayable by signing a £90m star.