Arsenal have confirmed that 20-year-old winger Marquinhos has returned to Brazil on loan with Fluminense.
The former Sao Paulo starlet will spend the next 11 months in his homeland until January 2025 and heads back to South America following an unsuccessful spell with Ligue 1 outfit Nantes.
Fluminense have also confirmed that they possess an option to sign Marquinhos permanently once his loan spell comes to an end, and the winger expressed his pride at representing the four-time Brasileiro winners.
"I am really happy. It's a great opportunity in my career to be able to represent Fluminense's team. I'm very happy and I hope we write a beautiful story, with titles and many victories," Marquinhos told the club's website.
"Fluminense is a club that aims for great things and that's what made me come here. The objective for the season is to win as many titles as possible. If we manage to win the Libertadores for the second time, it would be wonderful."
Marquinhos broke into the Sao Paulo first team as a teenager before transferring to Arsenal in the summer of 2022, where the Gunners paid just £3m to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers to his signature.
MARQUINHOS É DO FLUMINENSE! Atacante chega ao Tricolor por empréstimo junto ao Arsenal até o fim da temporada!
— Fluminense F.C. (@FluminenseFC) February 15, 2024
Seja bem-vindo ao Campeão da América! ⚡️🇭🇺
Saiba mais >> https://t.co/DDumwyOR4u pic.twitter.com/mmRbiLuXQl
The 20-year-old hit the ground running with the Gunners' academy side, convincing Mikel Arteta and co that he was ready for the step-up to first-team football after initial plans to send him out on loan.
Marquinhos scored and provided an assist on his debut for the club in a 2-1 Europa League beating of FC Zurich in September 2022, the same month he made his Premier League debut off the bench against Brentford.
The Brazilian turned out six times for the Gunners in the first half of the 2022-23 season, but he failed to keep the momentum going from his dream debut and spent the second half of the campaign on loan with Norwich City.
While in the Championship, Marquinhos only came up with one goal and one assist in 11 contests, and rather than be re-integrated into the Arsenal ranks, he was shipped out to Ligue 1 outfit Nantes last summer.
However, an underwhelming time in France saw the South American earn just 149 minutes of football across seven Ligue 1 games, during which he provided one assist and made just one start.
With Marquinhos also announcing his desire to represent Brazil's Under-23s at the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic tournament, where he made six appearances from January 23 to February 11, Nantes and Arsenal agreed to mutually terminate his loan before his switch to Fluminense.
Ben Knapton
