Wenger in £13m move for Martins
Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Arsenal have identified Obafemi Martins as their main transfer target this summer and are planning to make a £13m move for the Newcastle United striker in the next few days.
Martins is wanted by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, to replace Thierry Henry following his £16m departure to Barcelona this week. If he agrees to move to the Emirates Stadium, it will break Arsenal's transfer record, beating the £11m paid to Bordeaux for Sylvain Wiltord in 2000.
Newcastle would be loath to lose the 22-year-old Nigerian but know that they are powerless to stop him moving because of the buyout clause in his contract. The existence of the clause, which has annoyed the Newcastle manager, Sam Allardyce, was revealed by The Independent last week, as was Arsenal's interest in the striker. That has now hardened.
Newcastle have told Martins they will renegotiate his contract, even though it still has four years to run, and offer him a pay rise if he agrees to let the clause be removed.
However, the former Internazionale striker, who already receives £60,000 a week, has told them he wants time to think about his future. Martins has made it known that he favours a return to Italy - with one Serie A club, thought to be Juventus, having already expressed an interest - should he decide to leave St James' Park.
Allardyce, who is undertaking a major rebuilding programme at Newcastle, also accepts that there is no point in trying to keep the player if he wants to leave and realises that the money could help him to land other targets. He is already in talks with Chelsea's Geremi, having made three other signings, including the striker Mark Viduka on a free transfer from Middlesbrough. Allardyce also knows there is a chance he could lose Michael Owen, who also has a buyout clause - for £9m - in his contract and who has also interested Wenger.
Arsenal's interest in Martins is intriguing, even if Wenger has never hidden his admiration for the player who, when at Internazionale, helped to destroy his side in a Champions League tie at Highbury in September 2003. He scored the third goal just before half-time in a 3-0 victory.
Earlier this year Wenger also spoke glowingly about the impact that Martins - who scored 17 goals and was his side's top scorer - has made in the Premiership following his £10m move from Internazionale last summer. Last November he also made reference to Martins in his programme notes for Arsenal's home game against Newcastle.
However, Martins does have a fairly chaotic personal life and made himself unavailable for Newcastle's last League game of the season, away to Watford. He was also involved in a confusing incident earlier this month while in the Nigerian capital Lagos on international duty, when a car he owned was shot at. It was claimed he was the target, but it later transpired that he was not in the vehicle.
Martins has also been in dispute with his Italian agent and is now understood to have switched to the Stellar group, which is run by Jonathan Barnett.
Wenger also remains keen on the Lyon winger Florent Malouda. He has been in contact with the French champions and informed them that he would follow up his interest once he had dealt with other matters, including the sale of Henry. Liverpool have dropped out of the running for Malouda and, although Chelsea are interested, neither they nor Arsenal are expected to meet Lyon's £17m valuation. Wenger has told them to reduce the fee to £12m.
Chelsea are understood to have originally offered their 22-year-old French midfielder Lassana Diarra in exchange for Malouda, but are believed to be poised to submit a straight cash deal which could amount to £11.5m. However, Lyon are still holding out for more money.
