Arsenal have been granted a work permit for Argentinian goalkeeper Emilio Damián Martínez. The 17-year-old, who will be first-choice for the Under 18’s next season, will now be available for selection from July 1st.
Martínez signed for Arsenal following a trial last August, in a deal which Young Guns announced first. After remaining with parent club Independiente, he spent the final months of the season in North London with the Gunners confident they could win a work permit for the exciting stopper.
A first choice for Argentina at Under 17 level, the national team value the promising stopper as one of the best to come through the ranks in recent years, and subsequently respected goalkeeping coach Miguel Angel Santoro joined Damián at London Colney during his trial. An incentive based $2 million (£1.3 million) contract was thrashed out before he even touched down and now after winning the permit, another section of the money will now change hands.
At 6’3, Martínez is first notable for his height, but his excellent shot stopping and kicking add up to a notable combination. He has already made his debut for Arsenal, playing 45 minutes against Colorado Rapids at London Colney in March.
he looks good but all our GKs are great shot stoppers what they lack is the fighting spirit and the ability to deal with crosses lets hope this one is better
Szchesny is the exception and probably the best GK to come out of our academy ever
what happens to mcdermott he wanted to become arsenal no.1 before he turned 21 ?
He looks good in last fifa unda 17 world cup in Nigeria, i hope he develops & become one of d best keeper in d world. Arsenal will benefit 4rn his height if only if he turn out to be a good sighning 4 them. In Arsene we trust
I actually think he might be happy to be our second choice in the future
Great prospect and he may have the potential to someday be NO.1, however it is evident that we need a first choice keeper and not another youth keeper. If he is the only keeper we sign i would go as far as saying it is a dereliction of duty on Wenger’s part.
we signed him a long long time ago and youth has nothing to do with the first team
Szchesny is going to be our no.1 – I dont doubt that for second
Szchesny is the ideal arsenal no.1 – tall, brave, athletic, great reflexes, confident bordering on arrogance and he knows how to deal with crosses (although he does need to work on it in his loan spells)
J since you know people around Arsenal any idea if Wenger is even considering Szchesny for next season ? the only reason I ask is that we are not been linked with any keeper anymore and can Szchesny be the answer
YoungGunner, this signing has absolutely nothing to do with the first team. It is a reserve team signing. These are not players who are expected to play for the Arsenal first team (if at all) for several years.
But still, watch Cesc leave then Wenger will sign a 15/16 year old (seperately for the reserves) and half of the people on this blog will be shouting Wenger out!
Hopefully Wenger will sign a GK for the 1st team.
if cesc leaves the only player I want to see replace him is gorcuff
if you ever watch him he looks exactly like Cesc and he is probably the only player that can take over and fit in right away
Chesney for next season would be a pretty big deal…do you think he can handle that kind of pressure? I’m excited about him because he sounds like a total natural, but wouldn’t it be a bit risky for his development to throw him in at the deep end, with our defenders?
I dont know that’s why I was asking J if he knew anything
Andrew and Lefty2Gunz – I really do hope your both right with regards to this not being a first team issue, but we know how stubborn wenger can be. Remember that Martinez has not be unveiled officially as an arsenal player and it would not surprise me if wenger came out and announced him as one of his “before the world cup” signings
we signed him last year and I really dont understand why people are so sceptic of wenger
This is a youth team blog.
Other clubs sign crap load of youth players as well.
This isn’t the place to complain about first team issues
5 years without a trophy….anyone has to question that
with an financial banking building a stadium and staying in the CL
you should be kissing you lucky stars that we have a manager like Wenger who has kept us in the CL
Some team have spend more than 100 million and still not been able to make it
We right now have the youngest squad and if we were lucky with injuries especially Van Persie injury we wouldnt have to worry about 5 years without a trophy crap
Versus the collective wallets of Chelski, Man U, Liverpool, Citeh, Barca and Real Madrid.
I would have liked a trophy in this period but to expect one is a bit much IMO.
Go to another blog mate.
This is for youth team new.
Not for plastic fans
I think Martinez could well spend a few seasons out in Spain on loan, Argentines seem to adjust better there than they do here so it’d be a good stepping stone.
What’s going on with our partnerships with Salamanca and Celta Vigo. Has the problems with Botelho soiled them?
I still see Szczesny as a very possible future number 1 but it is good to have another talented keeper (as I hope Martinez is) breathing down his neck and keeping on is toes. As (I know 22 is VERY young to write off a keeper) I just don’t see Mannone ever becoming a real threat to the number 1 jersey.
I think we should keep him here teach him english and then send him to a championship league one side and let him prove his worth there
The money for this signing comes from a different budget. It is not dealt with by Wenger, it’s dealt with by Liam Brady. So you can’t blame Wenger or Arsenal. It’s just youth development, nothing to do with not winning a trophy for 5 years.
J any idea if Szchesny is being considered by wenger for the no.1 spot
I never realized the finances were separate. J, could you possibly do a piece on the finances of youth development in relation to other football operations, or something along those lines. I’m sure it would help inform a lot of people.
I don’t know if I’m asking for too much. Apologies if i am.
He better be better than Sean Mcdermott hes been awful. Hes also a big head.
James Shea is one of the best young goalkeepers in my opinion. Hes so reliable and doesnt make mistakes which is rare for young goalkeepers.
Its just his height if he was taller he would be in the arsenal first team. Hes got that assurance about him.
Also JS Laurent koscielny could be coming to arsenal with coqulin and armand traore going the other way.
Does wernger still see armand traore as a left back? I personally think hes a wide midfielder but i just cant see him making it ar arsenal when we got kieran gibbs
Traore will go to PSG he loves that club and i can see him going there in a couple of years
Mannone is wanted by AC MIlan and will probably end up playing for them in the future
is mannone italian? or is he english with italian heritage? i’m wondering if he would count as home-grown under the new rules? if he’s not, is he good enough to keep at the club with chesney hovering?
I think he comes in the homegrown rule he came to us from atlanta in 2006 didnt he ?
i wonder why anyone would want him, given that he doesn’t play ever.
does he play for the italian u21s or something?
he plays regularly for the reserve team and is a regular for the under 21s
I think Mannone did great work for us in the PL so I am not sure why they wont want him
Arsenal turn down Barca offer for Fabregas
Arsenal Football Club have today released the following statement about Cesc Fabregas:
“Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas is under contract with the Club until the summer of 2015. He is a highly valued member of the team and part of our future plans.
“We have followed recent speculation linking Cesc with a move away from the Club but as there has never been any official approach for him, only two informal exchanges, in which we made it abundantly clear that we have no interest in transferring Cesc, we have refrained from publicly passing comment. However, yesterday evening we received an offer from Barcelona for Cesc and in response, we immediately and resolutely told them once again that we have no intention of selling our captain.
“To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”
J do you think is this a good thing or a bad thing I mean fab wants to go and keeping a player who wants to play for some other team just make things more complicated in my view.
i don’t buy all this ‘fab wants to go’ nonsense…
of course he would go there if we agreed to sell him…but i don’t think he’s unhappy here or is agitating for a move.
laporta wants this signing to secure his legacy, and he has obviously pressured the fabregas family to agree to a deal…cesc has respect for him and loves barca and so didn’t tell him to f*ck off…but cesc has obviously said that everything needs to be ok’d by wenger and arsenal.
i think he’ll stay for sure, and leave towards the end of his contract, for a good fee. fair deal.
I think Wenger knows he will have to sell Cesc one day and I think Wenger is waiting for Ramsey or Wilshere to take over
but I am just happy to know Fabregas will be with us next season
J Arsenal have supposedly signed cole to a three year deal and he will be unveiled before the world cup so pprobably next week
first we have decide to make fab not for sale
and now cole
if this turns out to be ture and I am going to throw a huge party
Andrew – you are right there Sczcesney is the ideal No.1 for Arsenal he is quite injury proned lol!
As for Fab the statement is a smoke screen, Barca have made their opening offer which is not enough, as soon as it is the offer will be accepted. Wenger will basically want enough to cover his summer spending. He already knows that £30m is currently on the table so will start taliking now to see how much the replacements will cost. There is no one player available as good as Cesc, but if Gorcuff costs us £25m Wenger will want enough on top to buy the Keeper and defensive players he wants. I still think that £45m or £30m plus Traore will see Cesc leave leaving us with enough (including our current transfer budget) to buy Kosicelny, Diakhate, Rob Green, Joe Cole and Gourcuff
you know arsenal pr team wrote the last line just for people like you
To be clear, we will not make any kind of counterproposal or enter into any discussion. Barcelona have publicly stated that they will respect our position and we expect that they will keep their word.”
and Szchesny isnt inury prone he broke his both his arms last year and I think he played all the game for Brentford
i can’t believe how much people are falling over themselves to believe that fabregas is actually leaving this year. it’s not going to happen.
fabregas hasn’t ever said he is unhappy at arsenal. laporta wants to bring cesc home for his own political reasons, and he has engineered this whole situation. he has taken advantage of cesc’s love for barca and has come calling a couple of years too early. cesc hasn’t asked for any of this.
fab respects wenger immensely and will not go against his will. he loves arsenal. he counts some of his arsenal teammates as his best friends in life. he wants to do well here before leaving. and he’s not stupid, he knows we are close to trophies.
and the bottom line is that he is under contract until 2015, so arsenal has all of the power, and we don’t need to sell him at all. we’re ok for money.
contract dont matter at all now but I agree we need to keep fab for atleast two more years to make sure Rams and Jack can take over and still make 50-60 million profit
i think contracts still matter…legally a player can buy his way out after serving a couple of years of any contract, but big clubs know how damaging it could be if all of their £80m ronaldos and £80 ibrahimovces started to exercise this power and walk away for a pittance, so they all agreed that they would not take players who exercised this power at other big clubs. this is a G14 (or whatever) gentleman’s agreement.
a player can put in a transfer request and contract goes up in the air
some clubs includnig us give player new contracts to increase their transfer fees
we all do it and will keep doing it
its all about the players wishes now and how happy he is at the club
even if a player puts in a transfer request, the club can reject it.
the bottom line is that the club holds the player’s registration while he is under contract, and although it is legally possible for a player to buy out his contract after a couple years of it, clubs will not encourage players to start doing that because it will be carnage for all clubs.
i think that fabregas is aware that barca really want him, and is too respectful of barca to say no himself. but he is also too respectful of arsenal to demand a move from us. i think he’s 50:50 between preferring to go or stay. we won’t sell until his understudies can succeed him, so he stays. i think he’ll stay and fight as well as ever, and be sold on in a couple of seasons, when the timing will be right for all parties.
Let’s not forget Wenger is after all only human. His has erred in not bringing some experience players in January to beef up his young team. Campbell alone is not enough, tried as he did. But when I look at his strength and the vision he has brought to Arsenal, intricately balancing the club’s financial situation while maintaining it’s respectable position in both the PL and CL, I have to take my hat off to this very charismatic manager of Arsenal. The system he has in place at the club that keeps on churning out endless young talents from the academy while continue to attract more from around the globe is just baffling. So many believers have said and I am going to echo them..’in the long-term, Arsenal will rule Europe and it will begin in the next year or two and will go on at least for the next decade’. Dear Fans, do not stop to critic when we must..but never doubt Wenger’s capability and resolve in bringing Arsenal to the pinnacle. Last but not least J, this is one of the site i never missed to follow. Such a very highly reliable site. Congrats..!!
i like the sound of a 4-1-3-2 with Song playing behind a midfield trio of Joe Cole, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. I hope it’s true about Cole coming. Wilshere and Ramsey can take over from Cole and Fabregas in a couple years too.
apparently joe cole is signing a 3yr contract? can anyone confirm this or has any news on it..talksport say its practically a done deal??
Yh J Sanderson, do you have any news/views on joe cole?. Not a youth thing but rumours are flying everywhere!
Hey J,
Great website.
What is the latest on Galindo?
WHat do you think Barazite’s and Ozzy’s chances are long term with the first team?
Have you heard any of the stories today about Joe Cole signing a three year deal?
Metro, unnamed sources on Arsenal blogs and even one Chelski blog claiming it’s a done deal…
Andrew, Barca say on their website today that they’re NOT going to stop. Arsenal’s statement doesn’t square at all with what Cesc claimed Wenger said to him in what he called the ‘greatest conversation he’d ever had in his life’ – i.e. ‘leave it with me’. That sounds like Wenger respects Cesc’s desire to go, which implies that Arsenal will be willing to sell at the right price.
@Miranda. That is ofc obvious, for the RIGHT price everyone is for sale. The question is however, will Barca be able to dig up “the right price?” cos if they aint there is no way FAB4 is leaving Emirates this year…. The ball is again at Barcas court. They just refused a 35M offer for Ibrahimovich, surley they too will realise that Cesc is a more influential player than the sweed and pay accordingly. It is simple. take orange juice, Tropicana is more expensive than Tescos own brand, why? cos even though tescos own luxury is nice, tropicana has that little extra… Cesc is the tropicana of the footy world, with that little extra, we know this, Arsenal knows this and Barcelona knows this…..
I dont know if Cesc will be sold maybe he will maybe he wont but why should we worry about it now
let barca fans worry about what will happen next
we should enjoy this moment because as far as we know Cesc is staying, Cole is coming, Laurent is close to be signed and apart from a good GK we are looking like a very very strong team
so enjoy this moment rather than worrying about what will happen if Cesc leaves
Guys if Joe Cole comes, then do you think we will still go for Gourcuff?? <y gut says no. Here's why…We will be keeping Fabregas, which would mean we would have Fabregas, Cole, Nasri, Wilshere, Rosicky, Arshavin and Ramsey fighting for only a few positions. And if Fab leaves at the end of next year, Ramsey and Wilshere will be able to fill the void left by his departure. So it might be better if we just got Cole for free, than spend 25 million on a player whom we might not need in 2 years time in Goucuff. WHat do you guys think?? BTW I know this is supposed to be about Damian Martinez, but I have never seen him play before. I hope he can provide SOLID competition for Szczesney in a few years time!!
mate we’re not gonna for gourcuff with or without cole, dosnt take a “gut” instinct to tell you that. The only way that happening is if cesc leaves. Wenger has previously said that midfield is an area we are strong in and hes not going to spend 22mill on a player where a GK and CB are miles ahead in the list of what we need.
Well nothing is for sure, and with his strong relationship with Christian Gourcuff (his dad) , a lot of sources made it sound like he might come to Arsenal. Apparently that is his preffered destination. I know Wenger is negotiating with Christian regarding Koscielny so the talks could deviate towards his son at some point. You are right though, 22 million is too much to spend on a postition that we are loaded at!! Too much. If Fabregas stays, do we even need Joe Cole?? He is for free so it won’t hurt, but I can’t see it being a long term solution. Wilshere and Ramsey will step into the gap.
Coe can solve our Right Wing problem
cesc is going can’t you people seem to get that into your heads..HE’S GOING TO BARCELONA.
yes he is going but not this year.
Anyway can people stay on topic of the story and stop writing about first team on this blog.have respect for JS who use his spare time to inform us about incoming youth player.It s like thousand arsenal blog about arsenal first team where you can moan as much as you want.this one isn t .
the thing is lordgunner we aint seen martinez play. all most of us know is what j has told us…
we need a video compliation or sumin???
What has never seeing Martinez play before have to do with the first team? He’s not going into the first team straight away.
Szczesny is bgin loaned out to a Championship side next year for the full season.
This will be a big test for him as it is a mentally demanding league 46 games virtually 2-3 per week for 8/9 months.
I really don’t take too much interest in young keepers. Seriously this is the type of position that can play until they are 40 and indeed don’t mature until late mid/late 20’s.
Tough to see when Szczesny will get a 1st team run. Definitely not next year but if he has a good loan spell he’ll be 20 for the 11/12 season! Is this still too young??
Also, what if we sign a decent GK who is mid 20’s? Will Szczesny ever break through.
I do not agree with alot of posts on here regarding him being world class future star after a handful of games for Brentford where he has made a hatful of clangers but in equal measure has been outstanding in some games
played 28-29 games made 141 saves kept 10 clean sheets give the guy a break
almunia made 89 saves in 28 games and kept 8 clean sheets
which team is going to be loaned too any idea ????
Scouting Report on our new kid – he’s pretty tall 193cm
http://unapasionllamadafutbol.blogspot.com/2009/06/damian-martinez.html
The “Scouting” to what is known popularly as browse, is very popular in big clubs that join the well-known talents as a home club Arsenal, Udinese, Hamburg, Villarreal. Increasingly, the computers that send envoys to other countries to see certain players in particular, or even youth competitions such as a European under-17, a South American U-20 or even completed Toulon Tournament. It is part of modern football and it is certainly one of the keys to their future in terms of equipment that can not pay 20 million for a football player, but that probe to find young talent to hire them for less money and then with progress in the market value will rise up to the day that must be transferred. Last Sudamericano Sub-17 was one of those competitions full of unknown players to watch, where many scouts were present, analyzing the game and looking for new talent. Some clubs such as Fiorentina or Manchester United took advantage to sign promising players. Arsenal, known as one of the major world powers in such transfers are made with probably the best goalkeeper of the tournament, Damian Emilio Martinez (02/09/1992).
Born 16 years ago in Argentina, Martinez had not been called by the selection albiceleste until this year that the U-17 called him and soon took over the starting job, making a great South American category in which your remember that team reached the final of the tournament. Your affiliate team so far had been Independiente de Avellaneda, one of the great quarries of Argentine football which was being formed but after his great performance in the South American Arsenal decided to sign him to pay a little more than 1 million euros for 65% of the pass player, who is happier than ever with his transfer and fixed not take too long to count to see that Wenger and Almunia can leave Vito Mannone too, besides the French coach is a coach known for the many opportunities given a promising young club, many of which comprise the first team. Another case of South American players that are going to Europe without even debuted professionally in his country, which is that more and more common these cases.
Martinez is a very comprehensive qualities goalkeeper, who rarely shows vulnerable. A porter with lots of character, who rules over the defense and particularly inspire confidence in this, an important under today. To begin to describe it, say it is a keeper of a good physicist, 1’93 meters tall that take nothing away agility and yet you much good in the air, where it always is brave enough to show in outputs, not one of those goalkeepers who say they are going to fall over the crossbar and it is confident, cutting the ball with little trouble because not only comes with courage but knows when to leave and when not to. Reflections really effective and very good responsiveness, it is difficult to surprise Martinez from long range as well as being a goalkeeper is not usually give you the option to reject it. Usually placed well under the posts, as I said it is difficult to see him make mistakes and you will see a very confident goalie in all aspects, very complete at an age where most goalies usually have trouble in the air and yet in If the goalkeeper is not any problem.
All his skills, his incredible age of 16 years and that future looks so promising that hold Martinez have made to the technical secretariat of Arsenal not raise questions of possible recruitment and have already tied up paying a relatively low figure for what can become East Coast goalkeeper if progress continues in the next few years. The “Scouting” is fashionable and increasingly going to more and more teams practice it, definitely a good alternative for small clubs in times of crisis in which we live today, an option that usually works and as we have seen in Clubs already mentioned at the beginning of the article pays off in most cases.
Guys,any news on Savic??? dailymail says our 2nd bid of 8.5mil for Koscielny has been rejected, can’t see it though. Lorient are not fools to turn down that kinda offer and i don’t think we would shell out tat much for a player who might not be first teamer straight away. Savic then?
And what’s happening on Hazard front? People are going crazy over Gourcuff who isn’t that different from Nasri while i think Hazard could be much different than any of our players and could become the next best
savic will probably come in for a trial and then wenger will decide on him
WEnger was trying to out smart Lorient with the bid – he was trying to offer the same money but with more bonuses that will be paid in the next one – two years but that has been rejected. They want more money upfront and less incentives. Its the first time I have seen wenger fail in this kind of bid he did the same thing with Vermaelen and Ajax agreed on it but I guess Loreint arent that stupid
Fabregas isnt being sold so no need to bring in Gorcuff and I think Hazard might turn out to be too lightweight in the PL
I think Wenger’s intentions are to bring in Schwarzer as no. 1 for one season with Szczesny as no. 2 and then to take over after that, given that he progresses well. That would allow Szczesny to play in the CC, FA Cup and even the occasional PL and CL game without having the pressure of being No. 1 at such a young age.
Wenger has such faith in Szczesny that he probably thinks: We need a new GK but why spend 20-30 millions on somebody like Buffon or Lloris when we have a player who will be even better in couple of years. Therefore he will go for a short term solution like Schwarzer. Hopefully it will be followed by a CB and even a midfielder (improvement on Denilson at least).
schwarzer will be 38 in oct and I doubt Wenger will spend 4 million on him when there’s a good chance he can get green for 6-7 million.
Szczesny will probably be loaned out for two more years and then he will fight for his place with Green and Mannone
i brought savic on fifa. At 18 he was 81. And he joined me in form at 84. Sign him up wenger :)
god !!!!!!!!!!!!!
that’s the most idiotic thing I have ever heard
Guys its not out goalkeepers that are the problem its out defenders.
We need to sort out our defence out
NO I disagree it more about the nervousness our players feel when dealing with set peices, corners and long throws and a big part of this is GK punching of the ball when they should come out and collect the ball
It also about organisation in the box but I think the failure in recent season season with set pieces has made the entire team nervous when they deal with crosses
Arsenal defenders wont make any goalkeeper confident.
You watch corners, set pieces arsenal always look vulnerbale mainly because we have too many short players and not enough strong, commanding players and the goalkeepers we have feel that they have to come for crosses and corners because we dont have players who will clear them away confidently.
Sagna and clichy have been poor.
Almunia missed alot of the season through injury and through family greviances.
The season before he was voted 3 rd best player at arsenal and the reason for why arsenal were in the champions league. He saved us that season and yet he still gets stick hes not a bad a goalkeeper.
Mark Schwarzer isnt better than almunia in my opinion. Schwarzer has always been dodgy remeber him at boro he use to make mistakes all the time.
Plus he plays for Fulham with respect playing for FUlham and arsenal is totally differerent. the pressure is massive and for me goalies like scware, sorensen, jaasklien are suited to teams with less pressure.
Wenger said he had no intention of buying a keeper. I expect none to come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poqGAUM-lHY he looks vulnerable here :-S hopefull the good arsenal academy will iron him out of that!!!!!!!!!!! he will b gd no doubt…………….smauel galindo now here is the next talent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDpZF2VmDOQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPWeQIc4Eo the best clips of the polish wonderkeeper