Arsenal to replace Henry with Obafemi

From the gossip columns of football365.com

Arsenal have identified Obafemi Martins as their main transfer target this summer and are planning to make a £13m move for the Newcastle United striker in the next few days.

That's the bombshell news on the backpage of this morning's Independent. The same claim is also made in The Sun, but without the same amount of detail and confidence as The Indy's report.

Martins is wanted by Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, to replace Thierry Henry following his £16m departure to Barcelona this week. If he agrees to move to the Emirates Stadium, it will break Arsenal's transfer record, beating the £11m paid to Bordeaux for Sylvain Wiltord in 2000.

Newcastle would be loath to lose the 22-year-old Nigerian but know that they are powerless to stop him moving because of the buyout clause in his contract. The existence of the clause, which has annoyed the Newcastle manager, Sam Allardyce, was revealed by The Independent last week, as was Arsenal's interest in the striker. That has now hardened,' the newspaper claims.

At 22, Martins is far younger than Henry, but his signing would be a considerable surprise. The Nigerian has a reputation for being a hit-and-miss player, and went AWOL for Newcastle's final game of last season.

Still, Arsene knows. Apparently.