Welcome to The Emirates: Wenger Beaten Chelsea to Sign La Liga Superstar Striker

Arsenal have joined Chelsea in the pursuit of Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martinez, according to French publication Le10 Sport.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger has already signed FC Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny and wants to sign one striker in January transfer window to give one final push to his side’s league challenge.

The Blues have been monitoring the Colombian striker for quite some time now while the Gunners attempted to sign him in the Summer transfer window.

Last month, Martinez’s agent confirmed the Blues’ interest in his client. Henrique Pompeo told AS of Chelsea’s interest: ‘I can’t say it’s a lie, this is football, and nobody knows what the future holds, what I can say is that Jackson isn’t a player who leaves a club unless it’s through the front door.’

But he also maintained that Martinez is happy at Atletico and wants to prove himself at Vicente Calderon: ‘He made a decision, and he’s very happy in Madrid, he loves the club, although obviously he would have preferred to have got off to a different start on a personal level, but he’s happy for the squad because things are going well.’

‘Jackson is very grateful to Atletico, to (chief executive Miguel Angel) Gil Marin and (president Enrique) Cerezo, because they made a big economic effort to sign him and with calm and continuity Jackson will pay them back on the pitch.

‘He’s had to adapt to a new mentality playing style, and a thousand other things, and then he was injured,’
The 29-year old completed the £25 summer move to Atletico Madrid from Porto but has failed to live to up to the expectations of the La Liga club.

He’s only managed to score two goals in 14 league appearances for the club. His last start for the club came in the 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon on 8 November.