Micah Richards has given his verdict on marquee Arsenal signing Viktor Gyokeres and urged Mikel Arteta to exchange Gabriel Martinelli.
Arsenal have put their faith in Gyokeres to unravel their goalscoring problems, signing the Sweden international from Sporting for £64m.
Gyokeres enjoyed two sensational seasons at Sporting, scoring 97 goals in 104 appearances, and rejected Manchester United and his former manager Ruben Amorim in favour of a move to Arsenal.
Richards believes Gyokeres will likely be a ‘superb signing’ for Arsenal, although he admits there are still some ‘query marks’ over the 27-year-old forward.
Arsenal have turned their attentions to signing a brand new left-winger since completing a deal for Gyokeres and Richards supports that move, claiming Martinelli should now be viewed as an ‘impact player’ quite than a starter in Arteta’s squad.
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The Gunners are fascinated with signing England forward Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace and Richards insists that may be an ‘amazing’ signing.
The arrival of one other forward and particularly a left-winger would increase the probabilities of Martinelli – and Leandro Trossard – of leaving after each players have been heavily linked with a summer move earlier on the window.
Asked about Arsenal’s transfer business on The Rest Is Football podcast, ex-England defender Richards said: ‘How over and over have we said Arsenal need a brand new striker? We said it every week last season.
‘They’ve needed one for some time now. I still consider they need a left winger as well… they’ve been linked with Eze haven’t they.
‘I feel Martinelli can definitely do a job but he’s more of an impact player straight away, great to have off the bench, so if they might get Eze that may be amazing.
‘By way of Gyokeres, I feel it’s a superb signing but I still think there are query marks if he can do it at this level consistently.
‘I’ve watched a great deal of videos of him and I feel he’s really good together with his movement, he’s a very clever striker.
‘I don’t think people should expect him to carry the ball up rather well because I saw some times when it got here off him but he still scored two goals within the match so he got a number of praise.
‘He’ll cause teams problems though and he’s exactly what Arsenal needed, needless to say.’
Martinelli, who made 51 appearances for Arsenal last season, was linked with Bayern Munich earlier in the summertime however the Bundesliga champions have since signed Luis Diaz from Liverpool.
Arteta is reportedly keen for Martinelli to remain put despite the increased competition on the Emirates Stadium. If he’s sold, Arsenal would want not less than £50m for the Brazil international.
While Martinelli could yet feature for Arsenal next season, Belgium star Trossard is ‘increasingly likely’ to depart.
The £27m Arteta signing has emerged as a goal for Borussia Dortmund and has also received ‘concrete offers’ from two unnamed Premier League clubs.
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