New recruits such as Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira have dominated a lot of Arsenal discussion coming into the new season, and understandably so.
Each has gone on to have a positive impact on Mikel Arteta’s side and played important roles in the team marking a strong start to the campaign, winning six of their opening seven Premier League matches. However, another player who’s had a sizeable influence on the Gunners alongside those new signings has been Brazilian attacker Gabriel Martinelli.
The 21-year-old has had to bide his time since arriving at the Emirates back in 2019, however his importance has gradually increased year on year and he’s now one of the first names on Arteta’s team sheet. He’s featured in all seven Premier League matches, plus the Europa League contest against FC Zurich, and has scored three goals. That’s already half of his combined league total for the entirety of the last campaign.
Martinelli’s attacking influence goes beyond just goals alone though, and the underlying numbers from the campaign so far highlight just how impressive he’s been. In terms of shot-creating actions for example, which according to FBref is a contribution to one of the last two actions leading directly to a shot such as a dribble, pass or winning a free-kick, Martinelli’s total of 29 is the best across the Arsenal squad.
In fact, it’s actually the second-highest return across the Premier League, with only Manchester City ’s Kevin De Bruyne (35) able to top him.
Where does Martinelli rank among the Premier League's best players? Have your say in the comments below.
On top of this, The Analyst recently produced a visualisation which highlighted that no player in the Premier League had been involved in more open-play attacking sequences than Martinelli. He’s been involved in 46 attacking sequences, which is the same number as De Bruyne. The same breaks down to a very impressive open-play attacking sequence average of one every 13.1 minutes.
While more people are starting to sit up and take note of Martinelli’s attacking ability, the 21-year-old already has a number of admirers in the footballing world. One of those is famously Jurgen Klopp who spoke glowingly of the attacker, calling him a “talent of the century”.
After an incredible 5-5 Carabao Cup draw in 2019, Klopp said, "Martinelli’s pretty much the same age (as Liverpool defender Sepp Van De Berg) but he’s a talent of the century, he’s an incredible striker.”
The German spoke highly of the Brazilian once more after Liverpool's 2-0 Premier League win earlier this year, labelling Martinelli “such a talented boy” after he caused Reds’ right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold a number of defensive problems.
Arsenal have not been reluctant to spend big money in recent windows, yet it’s worth remembering Martinelli was brought in for a nominal fee of just £6million. That now looks like a steal and the evidence above shows how he’s quickly developing into one of the best attackers in the division.
