When the Brazilian media started reporting Arsenal interest in São Paulo winger Marquinhos, it was a couple of times said that Wolverhampton Wanderers were chasing the player as well.
Those rumours about Wolves didn’t last long, because it was soon reported that the Gunners had reached an agreement to sign the player for a fee of €3.5m, and the deal would soon be sealed.
Now surprising news is brought by journalist Jorge Nicola, who says the Molineux side is set to present a legal complaint against Marquinhos in the coming days.
According to his information, Wolves claim the player signed a pre-contract with them. So by signing for Arsenal, he’s breaking the deal they had.
It’s even claimed that Bruno Lage’s side hired a law firm in Brazil to start a formal process against the 19-year-old. Since São Paulo are not involved, the action is only towards the player and not the club.
Nicola contacted officials from the Tricolor to know if there are any chances the move to Arsenal could collapse. The journalist was told that the deal is going forward, as even though the Gunners haven’t paid for the transfer yet, they’ve given ‘legal guarantees’ about the signing.
It’s even claimed that Marquinhos has already had his medicals and is joining the London side in the coming days.
The winger was supposed to have a contract with São Paulo until 2024, as back in 2019, he signed a five-year deal with them.
However, he was just 16-years-of-age at the time, and since FIFA only allow underage players to sign three-year contracts, he’d be allowed to leave for free this summer. That’s why Wolves were signing him as a free agent, and Arsenal then moved to sign him for a small fee.
