Carlos Belmonte, director at Brazilian giants Sao Paulo, has on Thursday moved to lavish praise on Arsenal counterpart Edu Gaspar, over his conduct en route to striking a deal for the highly-regarded Marquinhos.

For those not aware, youngster Marquinhos is expected to be officially unveiled as an Arsenal player any day now.

Not to be mistaken for his namesake of Paris Saint-Germain, the 19-year-old is a winger currently plying his trade in his home country with the aforementioned Sao Paulo.

The one-time Brazilian youth international has directly contributed to four goals in 17 appearances across the year to date, albeit with Marquinhos, for some time, having been inching towards a departure from the Estadio do Morumbi.

This comes with the attacker having opted against coming to the table for negotiations over a new contract.

Arsenal, in turn, swiftly moved to take advantage of the situation, striking a deal with the Brazilian talent himself, before doing likewise with Sao Paulo over a transfer expected to be closed for a fee in the region of €3.5 million.

And, as alluded to above, if the latest comments on the part of Sao Paulo chief Carlos Belmonte are anything to go by, then those in a position of power at the Morumbi appear to bear Arsenal no ill will over the Gunners' cut-price swoop for one of the club's prized assets.

This comes with the sum set to be forked over by the Premier League giants actually coming in the form of a good will gesture.

As confirmed by Belmonte, Arsenal director Edu Gaspar opted against waiting it out to snap Marquinhos up on a free transfer, in the hope of building a mutually beneficial relationship between the two clubs:

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