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Arsenal fans should not be anxious if Aubameyang leaves the Emirates

Arsenal fans need not be worried about Aubameyang leaving

The Arsenal legend Michael Thomas told Caughtoffside: “Martinelli is a joy to watch. His work ethic is amazing and his willingness to always do what is required is an amazing trait to have at such a young age. He is adapting to the wider roles really well under Arteta, but I do see him as a number 9 in the future.”

After seeing so little action since the start of the season in August, Gabriel Martinelli has established himself as an important player for the current Arsenal team.

The young Brazilian has bagged goals when the team needed his help. Club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence has hardly been felt.

For that, Martinelli deserves a lot of praise.

The first five appearances of the 20-year-old were spread across three months, starting from August 13th and ending on November 7th.

That wasn’t a pretty picture for the young striker. Many fans questioned whether Mikel Arteta even fancies the energetic player.

But since scoring *that* wonderful goal against Newcastle United last month, the former Ituano man hasn’t looked back.

Since then, he has at least made one goal contribution on average in every match. To be more clear, he has four goals and two assists in the last six matches.

Despite playing just 788 minutes of football this campaign, the striker has seven goal contributions.

After being reduced to a bench warmer, any player could have lost the motivation to fight for their place in the first team.

But Martinelli has proven that he has the mental ability on-top of the technical ability everybody knows of. The last test was maybe the Brazilian’s toughest.

Now, he looks like a player who is ready to run into concrete walls. He has come out fighting. He now certainly is a man, from a boy he was, when he joined from the Brazilian fourth division.

Arsenal fans never casted a doubt on Martinelli. And now the youngster is showing why the fans were right to do so.

Nobody knows how high the young Brazilian’s ceiling is.

Maybe it’s beyond what everybody initially thought it to be…

Yash Bisht   

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22 Comments

  1. Smith-Rowe and Martinelli have taken the LW spot from Aubameyang

    I just hope Nketiah can show his improvement as a CF in today’s game and extends his contract

  2. Give credit where it is due, Mikel held him back for his own betterment after his injuries and now we saved over 50M in transfer fees. Well done Gabs, good luck young man!

    2. I knew people would give MA credit for Martinelli performances !are you saying that he wasn’t ready say a month ago when Auba still couldn’t score and missing sitters?

      1. Friends, three months back Gabs was running around like a headless chicken with a loud mouth. I give credit to Mikel for working with the lad and improving his finishing as well as councelling him to improve his attitude. Under Mikel’s tutelage, the lads have improved. I remember some folks wanted Beisla or Nuno or Rodgers as our coach? How well are these gentlemen doing? Mikel stands tall

  3. NO I told you long ago ever since he signed a new contract and we have Strikers in Arsenal Arteta just needs to look. Liverpool are looking at one of our young strikers

  4. I do like this article. I think it represents the new replacing the old……at the right moment. Gabriel Martinelli is now at the right moment and he represents this young squad that has, potentially…..everything. I, as most will be aware, have been critical of Arteta, and sometimes he still has poor judgement….BUT….these young players like Tomiyasu, ESR. Saka, Martinelli, Sambi Lokonga, Tavares, AND William Saliba, along with the still young Gabriel, White, and Tierney will all save Arteta’s, bacon. Another top striker and quality midfield player ,will make our team strong for many years.

    1. Your right Sean,With regard to Martinelli, I do not see him developing into a central striker.He does not have the physique to fend off defenders whilst trying to hold up the ball, and from what I have seen of him he is very adept at playing off the shoulder of his marker from either the right or the left flank where Auba was most effective imo.

      1. Grandad
        I agree. Martinelli has the pace to come from wide, but is not a No.9 in the traditional sense. Actually that would waste his talent for pulling defenders all over the place. ESR, Saka and Martinelli are our Three Musketeers. They give me hope for our great club.

  5. For as much hate Edu gets form fans you gotta to give him credit for finding Martinelli and getting him over here .
    And a special mention for Emery for having the trust in him and starting him along on this path even though it’s taking longer than it should of .

    1. He was bought on Emery’s watch Dan Kit but made his first League start under Freddie and then was a regular under Arteta before his big injury

      I have nothing against Emery’s management at all and Martinelli did well under him early on in League Cup and Europa games but didn’t score his first League goal until after Emery had gone

      Whether Emery or Edu get the credit for signing Martinelli is a bit like the Rioch and Dein situation with Bergkamp, we may never know who called the shots on either signing and ultimately it doesn’t really matter

    2. @Dan,

      I agree. I think Martinelli was first player brought in after Edus appointment? Credit when due.

      Hopefully he could pull his connections and bring Julian Alvarez next. That boy looks like the hybrid of Lautaro and Aguero!

  6. Let’s not give up on Auba just yet folks, I believe he may still have a part to play this season, probably not back as Skipper but hopefully back scoring goals at some point

    Martinelli is on fire at the moment, fantastic to watch, none of us are surprised, we always knew he had the talent, he just needed an injury free run and we all hope and believe that this is just the start of that

    The team is also on a good run at the moment but let’s see how the season plays out before we start selling off our better players, sure if we can get permanent deals for some unwanted on loan players or move on some of the wider squaddies who aren’t going to feature but we don’t need to give up on any active squad member right now in my opinion

  7. Many fans knew this would happen if Martinelli was given a run of games. He showed a lot of this when Emery played him.

    1. Unparalleled work ethic both on and off the ball, reminiscent of Alexi Sanchez.

    2. Always making runs behind the defenders, lethal on the wings and can change the game in a hot minute.

    3. Calm and composed finisher for someone so young

    4. Has that magic to change games.

    Time and opportunity was all he needed, and I don’t see how he can be dropped.
    ESR as the 10 with Saka and Martinelli on the wings is a lethal combo that will only get better with more experience playing together.

    Playing direct attacking football will get the best from them, and keeping opponents on their back foot can be a strength of this squad.

  8. There is one thing that i am worried about ,which is GABI losing what makes him such a joy to watch .his positivity ,directness ,always looking to carry the ball fowards. i hope that MA is not going to eradicate or try to stifle it.

  9. Why do you think he might do that siamois?, do you think he has done that to Saka & ESR?

    I think Arteta will try to help Martinelli’s own game management, deciding when to do things on the pitch and when to conserve energy and keep his opponents guessing in order to protect him from injury, burn out or becoming predictable and maximising the impact of his strengths over a run of 90 minute performances

    Thierry was the king of that (as he was a lot of things), seemingly drifting out of games and then bang!

    No matter how fit and able any player is they can’t play at 100 miles an hour for every minute of every game

    Arteta’s job is also about balancing the team, Laca is the ideal fit for Saka & ESR right now, Auba wasn’t, it looks like he wants to get Ode further forward for best effect which means that Partey has to play deeper than he might like and so on

    At the moment that balance looks right with Martinelli in the side, Tierney’s return may have helped that a bit so all good

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