Over the summer the arrivals of Gabriel Jesus, Alex Zinchenko, Matt Turner and Fabio Vieira all generated plenty of excitement, but one transfer that went slightly under the radar was Marquinhos. The Brazilian's arrival was met with a mixture of intrigue and apprehension as he was quickly labelled as "one for the future" by Edu.
The teenager pleasantly surprised many with his start to life in north London. Following some impressive displays for the under-21s he was handed a senior debut in the Europa League against FC Zurich where he scored a provided an assist for Eddie Nketiah. This was enough to convince Mikel Arteta that staying at the Emirates would be best for the 19-year-old's development.
Since then, though Marquinhos's upward trajectory has stagnated somewhat following a lack of opportunities. With just one minute of Premier League football so far this season, questions are being asked as to whether it makes sense to send him on loan for the remainder of the campaign. That could hinge on one thing.
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This time last year, Arsenal were highly proactive in the transfer market as Edu sought to enact a key stage in the long-term project by gutting Mikel Arteta 's squad. Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Pablo Mari, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Flo Balogun, were all allowed to leave in one form or another, while nobody came in the other direction.
With just one competition to focus on, Arteta opted for a more streamlined squad. However, as their depth was stretched to the limit towards the end of the season, it could be argued that this ended up being more detrimental than positive. This came to a head in the sequence of defeats to Tottenham and Newcastle where an injury-ravaged Gunners side ultimately surrendered their top four hopes.
Arsenal have learnt from their experiences last campaign and will be far more wary when it comes to letting players go this time around. "We know where we are in terms of the squad and the numbers that we have," Arteta told reporters last month. "So we’re going to be extremely cautious about what we are going to do in this window."
With Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson currently injured and Emile Smith Rowe still needing some time to acclimatise after four months out, Marquinhos has spent the past four Premier League games on the bench since the World Cup.
Arteta also only chose to give the Brazilian eight minutes during the FA Cup third round clash with Oxford. Despite that though, as things stand he is currently unlikely to leave this month unless Arsenal can bring a forward in.
football.london understands that the Gunners have agreed a fee of £21million including add-ons for Leandro Trossard. Reiss Nelson, meanwhile, is thought to be edging closer to a return following a hamstring injury.
This could open the door for conversations to take place over where Marquinhos needs to head elsewhere in search of more game time.
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