Jackson Martinez set to reject Arsenal and Milan to join Atletico Madrid
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Updated 24/06/2015 at 07:51 GMT
Jackson Martinez will apparently turn his back on moves to Arsenal and Milan to join Atletico Madrid.
Colombia's Jackson Martinez runs during a training session in Santiago, June 19, 201
Image credit: Reuters
The Porto striker is set to sign a four-year deal with Diego Simeone's side in a transfer that will cost the Liga club around £24.8 million.
Martinez's agent Luiz Henrique Pompeo has apparently told the Spanish newspaper AS that the deal to take the Colombia forward to Spain has been finalised.
It was finalised today. We want to thank Milan for their interest right up the end, we feel very honoured by it, but you can't be in two places at once," said Pompeo. "It's a very big club, which has done important things in the league and in Europe. Jackson is going there to also achieve great things and to bring the best out of himself to become even better. That's his dream and he's very excited. He's really happy.
Pompeo said Simeone was a key figure in persuading Martinez to join Atletico.
He's a coach with a winning mentality. Now it just remains for Atlético and Porto to make the official announcement and after the Copa América, where Martínez is representing Los Cafeteros, he will be presented with his new shirt.
OUR VIEW
It seems like Arsenal will have to look elsewhere for a forward. Martinez impressed during Porto's run to the Champions League quarter-final helping himself to a whopping eight goals, and a move to Atletico from Porto is a move that seems natural for a South American forward. Atletico were obviously a bigger lure than Milan, who are in the throes of uncertainty with Sinisa Mihajlovic recently replacing Filippo Inzaghi as their manager. However, you do wonder how serious Arsene Wenger was about landing Martinez if his agent is lauding Simeone with so much verve.
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