Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is the latest manager to heap praise on Arsenal starlet Gabriel Martinelli.
The Gunners lost 1-0 to City in Friday night's FA Cup fourth-round clash but one positive was Martinelli's brief cameo after coming on as a substitute in the second half. The Brazilian international troubled the Citizens a number of times but the north Londoners ultimately couldn't find their way past goalkeeper Stefan Ortega as Nathan Ake's finish secured City their place in the next round.
Speaking after the full-time whistle, Guardiola made sure to single out Martinelli for praise, admitting that he is a difficult player for defenders to stop. “Yeah (we defended) well, good, but of course, Martinelli is an incredible weapon," the Spaniard said when asked about Mikel Arteta's side.
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Guardiola is not the only top coach to hail Martinelli's talent in recent times. In fact, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has made it a habit of lauding the 21-year-old's sky-high potential. After an incredible 5-5 Carabao Cup draw between the Reds and Arsenal in 2019, Klopp said of Martinelli: "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, so it’s really difficult.
"It was not in this game only. I watch a lot of football, so I saw the Europa League games of Arsenal. He’s 18 years old, right? So our scouting department is all over the world and stuff like this, but I think Edu gets all the credit for that signing – he came from… wherever.
"He’s really unbelievable. So young, looks so mature already, is a proper threat. Yeah, he looks like a really decent player. I didn’t want to put any backpack [pressure] on his back with this thing [his earlier remarks] but I just really like good football players and obviously he’s a very good one."
Klopp then doubled down on his comments last season after his side beat the Gunners 2-0 at the Emirates. He said: "Apart from the diagonal balls to Martinelli which Trent defended incredibly, the boy Martinelli is such a talented boy, really tricky and if anybody says Trent can't defend they can come to me and I will knock them down because I cannot hear that anymore, I don't know what the boy has to do!"
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