Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is reportedly considering allowing Marquinhos to leave the club on loan in January.
The Brazilian right-winger, 19, was signed from Sao Paulo in the summer for a fee in the region of £3million but has rarely featured for the Gunners so far this season. He has appeared three times in Arsenal's Europa League campaign, scoring on his club debut in the win over FC Zurich, while also making one Premier League outing as a substitute against Brentford.
With Arsenal now into the knockout rounds in Europe, Arteta is more likely to field a full-strength or stronger XI, thus limiting Marquinhos' chances of regular action. While he is expected to be involved in their early Carabao Cup exploits - starting possibly with a role from the bench in Wednesday's clash vs Brighton - most of the rounds will have been played by the end of January.
According to the Evening Standard, Arsenal are now weighing up letting Marquinhos move on loan elsewhere towards the end of the January window once the early Carabao Cup rounds have passed in order to boost his playing time and get valuable first-team experience. Arteta faced a similar decision in the summer but made a U-turn on sanctioning a loan move, opting instead to keep Marquinhos at close quarters while he got himself settled in the knowledge there would be opportunities for him to feature in the Europa League.
Arsenal's busy schedule will be giving Arteta plenty to consider over whether he is willing to let Marquinhos go until the end of the campaign, particularly given his side are currently the strongest contenders to de-throne Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
Bukayo Saka is still the preferred option on the right flank with Reiss Nelson recently scoring twice when filling in for the England star whilst he nursed an injury. Arteta did sanction Nicolas Pepe's loan exit in the summer, though, meaning Arsenal are not blessed with a number of options beyond Saka or Nelson if they were absent.
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Arteta appears open to strengthening in the right-wing position, with Shakhtar Donetsk star Mykhaylo Mudryk continuing to be linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium. Marquinhos is very much deemed one for the future, however, and Arteta chose not to pursue a deal for another winger in the last transfer window as he handed the youngster a chance to impress.
The Gunners boss is an advocate of promoting youth to the senior side and will be mindful of blocking Marqinhos' pathway to the first-team by bringing in any new arrivals. That said, Marquinhos' development may be better served with a loan stint elsewhere if his chances to play for Arsenal over the back end of the season are unlikely.
Speaking back in September after his performance vs Zurich, Arteta suggested there may be more minutes for Marquinhos to come, and stated "he’s a player that needs to keep developing and in order to do that we need to give him opportunities.”
However, Football London report Arteta was visibly angry with Marquinhos during his latest appearance against Bodo/Glimt, after failing to offer a passing option to team-mate Fabio Vieira, before he was substituted early in the second half.
