Weeks after Marquinhos ended his participation at the Pan American Games with Brazil, the Arsenal loanee is still yet to return to a matchday squad with Nantes.
Over three weeks ago, the Brazil u23s took on Chile in the final of the Pan American Games, emerging victorious to earn Arsenal’s on-loan winger Marquinhos a gold medal.
Marquinhos is playing for Nantes in Ligue 1 this season, but the Brazilian took a break from the club action to play in the international tournament last month.
He had a positive impact for Brazil, providing three assists in three games at the event, and it ultimately seemed to be worth the time away from his loan club.
Yet despite returning to Nantes and rejoining training, Marquinhos hasn’t made an appearance since.
It’s not at all surprising Marquinhos didn’t play for Nantes against Reims on November 5th, just a day after the Pan American Games final.
Nor is it particularly shocking he then missed the game against Metz a week later.
But it’s now been 29 days since Marquinhos’ last appearance at the games, and 23 days since the games ended, so his absence from the squad to face Le Havre AC on Sunday was more concerning.
Even before the tournament ended, there were rumours that Marquinhos could be set to return to Arsenal before going out to a new club in the January window.
The Mirror wrote that Marquinhos’ loan was “under close observation by Arsenal”, with Olympiacos, Nottingham Forest, Bologna, Empoli, and Frosinone all showing an interest in Marquinhos over the summer.
There’s no clarity on whether Marquinhos’ loan deal contains a break clause, but it would be possible to end the loan early if all parties came to an agreement in January.
Given his non-participation in Nantes’ squads at the moment, that doesn’t seem like it would be a hard agreement to reach.
Following his loan move on August 12th, Marquinhos played five times in Nantes’ first seven games, but only started one of those matches.
In total, Marquinhos spent just 88 minutes on the pitch in that first month and a half on loan, and he hasn’t been involved since.