Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James has advised his old side to make a move for Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli, rather than Leeds United star Raphinha.
The Reds may be looking to strengthen their attacking options in the summer as a result of Bobby Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah all yet to agree on contract extensions as they enter the final 12 months of their current deals.
“Gabriel Martinelli is one player who I get excited by. If it was a choice between Martinelli and Raphinha, I would go for Martinelli,” the ex-Red told ggrecon.com (via The Sport Review).
“He’s young and he’s got everything you need. It’s almost like a slightly rawer [Luis] Diaz, and the beauty of Diaz is that he can play basically anywhere.
“Martinelli obviously occupies the left a lot more. I always think that with a good environment and age, you can manipulate a player into something else, and I think Martinelli fits that criteria.
“He’s young and more than capable. And I can imagine him in a Liverpool kit, doing what he does with Arsenal, if not better, and just fitting in seamlessly.
“If you look at Liverpool’s recruitment, the age of the players they’re buying – they’re young: they’re kind of like “we’ve already got the team now, but what’s it going to look like in the future?” and they’re bringing in those players to fill in those spaces where if [Roberto] Firmino, [Sadio] Mane, Salah drop out, they’ll be ready to go and replace them.”
Rumours have emerged recently claiming that the Reds have made a bid for Brazil international Raphinha, but it’s understandable for James to argue that Martinelli would be the better option for us.
The Gunners youngster is five years younger than Raphinha and has five goals and three assists in 19 Premier League appearances this term.
He does appear to have all the attributes to succeed on Merseyside with his direct and pacey style of play and Jurgen Klopp has also expressed his admiration for the 20-year-old in the past – labelling him as the ‘talent of the century’.
The Brazilian does usually operate from the left-wing, similar to Mane and Luis Diaz, but has been deployed centrally at times for the Gunners and there’s no reason why Klopp can’t adapt his game to become a quality central forward.
It’ll be interesting to see whether we decide to further strengthen our attacking options in the summer – but for now, we have three more trophies to focus on this season before we should even consider any transfers.
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