“Another star in the making” - Martin Keown compares Marquinhos to ex-Arsenal ace

Arsenal new boy Marquinhos opened the scoring on his debut last night and Gunners legend Martin Keown has compared the Brazilian to a former academy youngster.

The North London club faced FC Zurich in the Europa League on Thursday evening and came out 2-1 winners, with Eddie Nketiah bagging the winner on the hour mark.

Marquinhos didn’t have to wait long before claiming his first goal in an Arsenal shirt and Keown has heaped praise on his performance, claiming he could be the next Serge Gnabry.

“He’s got a huge future ahead of him. That’s a real opportunity now ahead of him,” the former defender told BT Sport.

“Bukayo Saka is only a couple of years older himself, but such is the quality he’s going to get chances. He looked a bit like a Gnabry type player. He’s short, stocky, explosive pace. He looked very classy.

“He picked and chose his moments cleverly, whipped a couple of crosses in. Really good quality. He kept on producing.

“I think it’s great news. We’ve seen Saka, we’ve seen Smith Rowe in this very competition start their careers. I think we’re seeing another star here in the making.”

Marquinhos was one of five new arrivals at Arsenal this summer after signing from Sao Paulo and is definitely seen as one for the future, with the likes of Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard currently ahead of him in the pecking order.

However, the Gunners will certainly want to tread carefully with Marquinhos if he is to end up like Gnabry.

The German spent five years in North London as a youngster but wasn’t deemed good enough and eventually joined Werder Bremen for only £5 million.

However, Gnabry has since gone onto become one of the best forwards in Europe and has won four league titles and the Champions League with Bayern Munich.

The 27-year-old’s departure is one that the club will massively regret but they will see their current crop of young talent as ones that could exceed Gnabry’s ceiling.