Michael Owen has praised Gabriel Martinelli and says he expects Mikel Arteta will start building his team around the Brazilian and other top youngsters at the club next season.
Arsenal has enjoyed the talents of Martinelli since he joined and broke into the club’s first team.
A long-term injury ruled him out for much of the first half of this campaign, but he has returned to become one of Arsenal’s best players in the games he has played so far.
He was in fine form and provided an assist as the Gunners beat Newcastle United at the weekend and Owen praised the quality of his assist for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal, among other things.
“They have a lot of good players, don’t they Arsenal,” Owen said on Youtube.
“I like these players (Martinelli) that find half a yard and cross it early (assist v Newcastle), as a centre-forward that’s exactly what you want.
“You see, first time cross, the defence cannot get set. And the goalkeeper cannot get set. He (Martinelli) has played centrally and he knows that what (Aubameyang) prefers as a centre-forward. It was a brilliant ball to round it off.
“I think Mikel Arteta is going to start to build his team around some of these players.”
Arsenal fans have been asking for Arteta to use the Brazilian more often in recent games, but he hasn’t listened to their pleas, Martinelli has proven why he has to be the key man at the club again.
Perhaps Arteta is trying to protect the youngster from having too much responsibility too soon.
IMO, all that MA is achieving where MARTINELLI IS CONCERNED IS TO “PROTECT” OUR OPPONENTS FROM HIM!
WHY? SEARCH ME!
In Saka,ESR and Martinelli we have 3 young players of enormous potential, but to build a successful side the spine of the team needs to be solid.By spine, I mean GK CBs and DM and /or CM.Alas, we are currently lacking in these areas and it may well take 2/3 transfer windows before Arteta, or whoever is at the helm, are in a position to bring in the quality needed for us to become a real force again.In the next window the return of Saliba and hopefully the recruitment of Bissouma , will be two steps along the right road but much will depend on how successful we can be in unloading players who are considered surplus to requirements.A central midfield of Partey and Bissouma would be a substantial step in strengthening our spine which currently is rather fragile.