Martinez speaks on Yannick Carrasco’s future amid Arsenal interest

Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has said that Yannick Carrasco may not necessarily have to pursue a fresh challenge away from the Chinese Super League in order to secure a place in the national team. The 25-year-old has recently been tipped to make a return to Europe this summer but Martinez remains relatively unperturbed with the player’s club status.

Speaking to HLN, Martinez said that he has no concerns with the league status of Carrasco and it is up to the winger to decide his future, he told: “Yannick feels his moment has come. Who am I to stop him. He doesn’t necessarily have to leave China. I even plan a visit to the country, also to see [Mousa] Dembele. Playing football in China is not an issue for me.”

Carrasco has been strongly fancied to make the move to the Premier League with Arsenal after the north London club failed to pursue him during the 2019 winter transfer window. The north London giants are deemed to have already agreed provisional personal terms with the defender but they are yet to show the intention of matching Dalian Yifang’s £30m price tag.

Unai Emery’s side are deemed to be working on a transfer budget of just £45m for the summer and additional funds may have to be gathered from the potential sale of first-team stars. Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Laurent Koscielny has been mentioned as potential candidates, who could head through the exit door, although there has barely been any approach for their services.

Aside from Carrasco, the Gunners are also looking into a deal for Lorient’s Alexis Claude-Maurice and the Frenchman could cost around £17.8m. Like Carrasco, the Capital outfit have sorted personal terms and they are hoping to make staggered payments rather than transferring the fees at one go.