Marquinhos is close to signing a permanent deal with Cruzeiro, the club he has been loaned to from Arsenal since the beginning of 2025
Cruzeiro is close to announcing the permanent contract with striker Marquinhos. The club’s board of directors has made progress in negotiations to buy the rights to the 22-year-old player, who belongs to Arsenal in England. He was loaned to the club in early 2025. Marquinhos is on loan to Cruzeiro until the end of the season. However, there is a clause requiring the player to be bought if he plays 18 games in the first half of the year.
The winger has already played in 17 official matches and scored one goal. He has also played in two friendlies. The club is expected to pay 3 million euros (around R$19 million) for the deal, a reduced amount after recent negotiations with Arsenal. The information about the negotiations was initially released by the Goal portal. This new agreement with Marquinhos should last until December 2028. The striker was evaluated by coach Leonardo Jardim, who currently calls the shots in the football department. He has fielded the player ten times since taking over as Raposa coach in February.
Jardim commented on Marquinhos’ situation at a press conference on May 14, when he made an ‘appeal’ for Arsenal to accept improving the clauses in his contract, as a longer stay in Belo Horizonte would be positive for the player.
“Marquinhos is not our player, he belongs to Arsenal. He has a mandatory requirement to play, and most of them were played under previous coaches. And the club and I asked Arsenal to let him play more games so he can be evaluated. He certainly has quality, but we have to evaluate his quality in relation to our structure.”
“We hope Arsenal opens the door and allows him to play a few more games. He is our player until July 31. If Arsenal allows him, as I believe (they will), he will return (to be used). It will be for the good of the player and his development,” the coach stated at the time. This ‘limit’ of games imposed by the contract took Marquinhos out of the squad for several recent Cruzeiro games. And, when he did play, he remained on the bench. Jardim did not call up the player from May 1 to May 25. He was used again in the 2-0 away win over Fortaleza, last Sunday (May 25), in the 10th round of the Brazilian Championship.
