Colombia’s secret World Cup weapon is heading to Arsenal

The absence of Radamel Falcao from the World Cup in Brazil may offer a silver lining to Arsenal fans with Porto striker and potential new arrival Jackson Martinez in line to play an important role for Colombia.

While a tally of eight goals in 27 appearances for Los Cafeteros is impressive enough, the 27-year-old has previously played second fiddle to the Monaco superstar, with manager Jose Pekerman preferring to play the former Atletico Madrid hero throughout qualifying.

But with Falcao ruled out through injury, Martinez may be in line for a starting spot against Greece, as Colombia aim to impress in their first World Cup finals appearance since the 1998 edition of the competition.

And that could provide Arsene Wenger and Arsenal fans the world over with the perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse of the man thought to be close to a move to north London.

Earlier this week, Martinez’s agent confirmed that there had been an approach from the Premier League giants.

And Olivier Giroud,  who is preparing to appear for France in Brazil, further fuelled the rumours during an interview with InfoSport+ in which he confirmed that a forward would be joining the Gunners in the near future.

“I can tell you Arsenal will add a striker to the team. We need another striker. Great clubs have several good strikers, who compete with each other,” he said.

Martinez has impressed throughout his two-year spell in Portugal with Porto, scoring 60 goals in 91 appearances for the club.

And a memorable goal against any one of Greece, Ivory Coast or Japan could signal his arrival on the world stage, as well as helping Colombia to progress through the group stage in Brazil.

Here’s hoping he finds the net with a strike of similar calibre to the one he scored against Sporting Lisbon in the 2012-13 season – check it out below:

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