Arsenal has been linked with a move for Gremio youngster, Bitello, which gives me a lot of Gabriel Martinelli vibes. Remember when Edu Gaspar was about taking over from the shambolic Raul Sanllehi? He unearthed a gem from Ituano, who turned out to be one of the standout players for the club last season. Bitello started his career with lower-league Brazilian outift, FC Cascavel, making three appearances before he was snapped by Gremio as an 18-year-old.

In three seasons with Gremio, Bitello has made 86 appearances for Gremio, scoring 18 goals and seven assists. His greatest attribute is his versatility, which is something Mikel Arteta loves in any footballer. Bitello’s main position for Gremio is No. 8, where he makes great forays forward with blistering pace, sultry dribbling skills, ball carrying plays and great passing range, but he has also featured as a No. 10 which allowed his manager make tactical tweaks elsewhere. Last season, he showcased his versatility to feature as a false 9 and even a right winger, which aided the team in their Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A title challenge. Gremio is currently at second place in the Brazilian League behind runaway leaders, Botafogo.

Despite his obviously amazing technical ability, the major weakness in Bitello’s repertoire is the fact that he’s not physical, as he has been known for being shoved off the ball countless times by opposition players, and in a grueling division like the Premier League, it can put him at a massive disadvantage. However, the potential exists for him to bulk up and gear himself up to face such threats and quell them.

He was recently linked with a move to AS Monaco, who actually made a formal approach for his services, but he stated that his focus remains with Gremio,

“It seems that an offer has arrived, apparently from Monaco, but I haven’t spoken to my coach about it yet. I have a contract here.”

“I am happy and focused on Grêmio. The upcoming championship is thrilling.”

Arsenal seems to have genuine interest in signing Bitello and it is rumored that Edu Gaspar and his negotiation team are willing to offer around €8 million (£7 million) for his services. Gremio are holding out for €10 million and will be hoping to get the best deal for themselves, as they are bracing to part ways with one of their best starlets. Signing Bitello seems like overkill to me, because we have a lot of players in those positions, but if Arteta and Edu are onboard with it, by all means, I’m chilled.

We will keep monitoring the situation as things unfold.

There were a couple of notable absentees from Arsenal’s squad that traveled to the United States for the preseason tour, with Nicolas Pepe being one of them.

The Ivorian winger returned to the club after an underwhelming loan move at OGC Nice and with a year left on his contract, Arsenal are hoping to recoup some cash for his services, rather than letting him go for free, as he will go down as one of the worst signings the club has ever made. It is clear that Arteta and Edu work in unison, with both men engaging each other regularly and reaching alignment on the targets required, as well as making the necessary moves to get them. Unai Emery and Raul Sanllehi on the other hand, were pretty shambolic in their communication – Emery wanted a right-footed left winger in Wilfried Zaha, Sanllehi delivered a left-footed right winger in Pepe. We all saw how that panned out.

Pepe’s agent has offered the winger to Fenerbahce, as it’s evident that the Turkish outfit are in need of the winger, after narrowly missing out on a deal for the much-coveted free agent, Zaha, who joined their rivals, Galatasaray, instead. We are hopeful that Fenerbahce would offer us some quid for Pepe, and with the winger clearly not being in Arteta’s plans for the campaign, I’m sure Arsenal will accept what the Turkish giants offer, because in all honesty, I was thinking that the club was going to cancel his contract like they did with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sead Kolasinac, Sokratis Papathathopoulos, Skhodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers.

I can’t wait to see Pepe leave the club and I’m hoping that this move to Fenerbahce comes to fruition.

Sayonara.

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