With second place in the Premier League assured, Arsenal head into the final week of the Premier League season with nothing on the line.
Mikel Arteta’s side have now claimed a hat-trick of second-place finishes, meaning the Arsenal boss will no doubt be in a reflective mood when his side closes out their campaign with a trip to relegated Southampton.
A busy summer awaits at the Emirates with plenty of players set to come and go as the club looks to make those final tweaks which they hope will give Arteta a title-winning squad.
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This will include making decisions on the club’s loan players, with no less than six players currently with other clubs looking to pick up some valuable first-team football.
The majority of these players are coming to the end of their respective stints away now that Europe’s major leagues are reaching their climax, but one young hopeful’s loan spell is due to run to the end of 2025.
Brazilian winger Marquinhos returned to his homeland to sign a 12-month deal with Cruzeiro in January in what was his fourth loan deal since he arrived at Arsenal from Sao Paulo in 2022.
Arsenal will have hoped that the 22-year-old would have benefited from sending him back to familiar surroundings, where he had the opportunity to earn regular football, but this has not been the case so far, with the winger struggling to play consistent football.
Marquinhos has missed out on Cruzeiro’s last three squads, with local reports suggesting that this is down to a contractual reason, as the Brazilian side do not want to trigger a clause that would mean they are obligated to buy the loanee, in a contract agreed under former boss Fernando Diniz.
According to Bolavip, new coach Leonardo Jardim has begun talks with Arsenal to let Marquinhos to play more matches without triggering this clause.
“The club and I asked Arsenal to get him to play a few more games so we can better assess his quality for our structure,” Jardim said. “He certainly has quality, but we are waiting for Arsenal to open the door for him to play a few more games.”
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it would be in Arsenal’s interest to hear Jardim and Cruzeiro out and potentially amend the deal that was brokered in January. It will do the player no good to be omitted from the Brazilian side’s matchday squads between now and December when his loan deal expires, while this should also help protect that player’s value, with Marquinhos currently listed at €6million on Transfermarkt.
