Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli was one of the first names on the team sheet last season. This term, not so much.
The Brazilian's struggles have gone under the radar, too, in another storming season in which the standards keep rising. Six goals all season is a meagre return compared to the 15 he bagged last term: measure that against the continued trajectories of Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard.
In fact, Trossard coming on against Bayern Munich this week to score the all-important equaliser perhaps summed up how other players have taken on more presence in this side. It leaves Martinelli in a not-too-dissimilar position to other stars of that storming 2021/22 campaign in which Arsenal came back to prominence – such as Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Aaron Ramsdale and Kieran Tierney.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is at a crossroads with Gabriel Martinelli
Let's go back to the start. Mere months into his Arsenal tenure, Mikel Arteta told FourFourTwo that Martinelli was striker, used out on the left flank to drift inside and find goalscoring opportunities as and when he had the support from left-back. Bukayo Saka provided that (remember him as a left-back!?) before Kieran Tierney did it.
But then Oleksandr Zinchenko came into the picture. With Arsenal's left-back inverting, Martinelli had to stay wide and hold width. In order to get Martinelli more central, though, Gabriel Jesus drifted out to that wing, as did Granit Xhaka – a natural left-footer.
FourFourTwo spoke to him then, too, with Martinelli telling us, “I see myself more as a left-winger but I can play on the right, as well, or as a striker. I love to play with Jesus because he loves moving. He goes to the left, I can move central. It’s very good to have that movement and it helps the team as well.”
Sure enough, there was a drop-off from Martinelli when Jesus got injured and a more static striker in Nketiah replaced him: that improved when Trossard played up front, given that Trossard drifted like Jesus. Now, Arsenal have Kai Havertz up front. Clearly, the plan was to use him in midfield, drifting into space in attack and overlapping Martinelli – for Martinelli to cut inside – but it's not quite worked like that.
Havertz and Martinelli both want those central spaces and more often than not, Martinelli has held the width out left to allow the German to flourish in the middle. That isn't where he's best: but is it just taking time to click? Is this the new Martinelli? Can Havertz play with Martinelli? Or does Arteta replace him with someone who does it better this summer, like Pedro Neto?
No, really: Martinelli is the striker Arsenal are looking for
Arsenal need a striker with the aerial ability of Havertz, the ball-striking of Nketiah and the movement of Jesus. They have all three in Martinelli.
It's easy to forget that he's still just 22. The Brazilian's best traits are simple: he's devilishly quick, strong on the ball and a good finisher – but one of his most underrated abilities is to get his head to everything first. All he needs is to improve his hold-up play and he could be the perfect centre-forward in Arsenal's system.
So while the Gunners are looking for a Victor Osimhen, actually, a Rafael Leao could be better off at the Emirates. Maybe even a flying left-back, or overlapping midfielder to get Martinelli closer to goal?
Really though, whoever comes to the Gunners has to do what Gabriel Jesus has done: get the best out of Martinelli. Jurgen Klopp described him as a “talent of the century”. Arteta rates him so highly that essentially, he binned club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang just a year into a new contract so as not to disrupt the pathway of Martinelli, who is the model professional in training as well as with his off-ball play in Arteta's demanding system.
While he's had an underwhelming campaign compared to last season, don't be surprised if he comes back into sharp focus soon, given that he's still one of the Gunners' most important players. The next few months will be intriguing, however: Arsenal have a potential world-beater who looks under par. That will be the next thing that changes in their evolution, one way or another.
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