Marquinhos to Arsenal: Is the transfer legal?
Robin Bairner
- 13 Jun 2022 18:06 BST
- 3 min read
Arsenal announced that Sao Paulo teenager Marquinhos has completed a transfer to the Emirates Stadium for a fee believed to be around €3.5 million (£3m).
The 19-year-old is believed to be a player for the future as he arrives from Brazilian football with just 41 senior appearances to his name.
It is a deal, however, that Sao Paulo have apparently been eager to rush through, not because they do not trust the player will one day become a star, but because of fears of his contract status.
Indeed, they are not the only club that has taken a legal interest in Marquinhos’ deal, with Arsenal’s Premier League rivals Wolves also reportedly monitoring the transfer.
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Marquinhos to Arsenal: Why is there controversy over the transfer?
There are two strands to the controversy surrounding Marquinhos’ transfer to Arsenal, both ultimately coming from the same source. This is the original five-year contract that the player signed with Sao Paulo as a 16-year-old.
Although the Brazilian FA recognise such deals for players of a minor status, FIFA do not. Instead, world football’s governing body will only ratify three-year deals for players under the age of 18. In their eyes, then, Marquinhos was out of contract and, technically, a free agent. Sao Paulo were unable to convince him to extend that deal.
Rather than go down a legal route, which might have been complicated, long and mentally difficult for the attacker, Arsenal chose to sign him for a relatively small sum.
According to the Daily Mail, on the other hand, Wolves sought to take advantage of the player’s questionable status and agreed a pre-contract agreement with him. The report states that the Molineux club felt this was legally binding and were ready to take legal action against Arsenal, Sao Paulo and the player.
This echoed a report from Jorge Nicola in Brazil who suggested that Wolves were ready to file a complaint against the Marquinhos.
There has been no evidence of such a suit has been forthcoming against any of the parties and the indications are strongly that Marquinhos will become an Arsenal player.
