At a time when the likes of Aubameyang and Pepe’s futures are not clear, one thing seems certain, Martinelli could be the new face of Arsenal.
The youngster scored twice at Leeds to add to his goal against West Ham and his volley against Newcastle.
More impressive than that is his work rate.
I always find it hard to believe that it’s taken this long for Arteta to give him a run in the team as the player meets all the criteria that the manager demands.
He presses, defends from the front and isn’t afraid to take on his man.
Yet it’s only been this month where he’s been consistently starting in the League.
Before that when we needed goals at Brighton and Liverpool, he was an unused sub, at home to Palace he only came on when we went 2-1 down.
In the last two seasons some Gooners complained that the Brazilian was underutilised when we were knocked out of the Europa League.
Whether it’s protecting him because of niggling injuries or the player not meeting his ethos, Arteta has been reluctant to give the 20-year-old a run in the team.
It was getting to the point where I was worried that we would lose the youngster to another team because make no mistake, he’s too good to be sat on our bench.
If there’s one hope for the Gunners, it’s the youngsters we have. While they still need support from their senior peers someone like Martinelli could develop into a mega star.
Sometime timing is everything though.
His form has coincided with Auba being dropped.
While that’s for non-footballing reasons, it’s very hard not to compare Martinelli’s work rate with his ex-skipper.
That’s why Martinelli is a fan favourite. Because supporters only ever ask that a player fights for the shirt and gives 100 percent effort.
He plays in a manner fans can relate too. He plays like he cares.
His brace at Elland Road will support the narrative that we need to move on from our ex-skipper and carry on building round youth.
In reality it doesn’t have to be one or the other.
Good man management will make Auba happy and confident again and he can complement Martinelli.
There’s a lot of things that divide our fanbase.
One of the things we can universally agree on though is Martinelli could be our future.
A World Cup is a year away. How he copes with any added scrutiny from a good tournament with Brazil will depend on having the correct support network around him.
Attention going to his head, or a serious injury, is only way he won’t make it to the very top.
Be Kind in The Comments…
Dan Smith
And to think the rumours were starting to go around that he was close to wanting to leave due to lack of opportunity.
Imagine Auba had returned on time, guess who would’ve been bench still?
I think Auba would still have started from the bench regardless.
Before Everton Martinelli has shown he is the better choice and ESR injury was just a perfect excuse to get his spot cemented which he has done. Auba wouldn’t have made the first 11
I think we should allow the guy properly develop without too much pressure. That my take on Saliba too, the way we go about some of our young guys is putting pressure on them, good thing we have so many, it’s not only Saka or Martinelli or ESR or Ode , so it’s across the board and gives them reasons to compete fairly
Regarding the heading – was it ever in doubt?!
Sue- it seems the only person who had doubt was Areta
Shame that just like ESR he has been forced to play Martinelli regularly , something he should have been doing from the moment he came to the club. Everyone knew of Martinelli quality from the moment he first touched the ball for Arsenal.
I am happy with the progress this season but it only shows that any manager afforded time, patience and financial support is bound to get it right in the end, with his capability and fortunate coincidences.
I can’t disagree with that, Phil
I think it’s easy for fans to see young players come in and play well, and assume they would have played well without a period of improvement off the field. Martinelli didn’t play all that well earlier in the season when he featured. It’s taken some time for Saka to excel at RW, for Gabriel to be consistent, for Odegaard to pick up good positions between the lines. What we can see is that when these players do come in, they are performing. Would they have had the same impact if they’d been played earlier? None of us know. Given current results, I’m willing to trust and give credit to the boss on this one.
I think Martinelli quality was known long before the boss was even considered for the job. Better late than never though. I wish Pepe will be next.
Very True. He was fire when Emery was playing him. His talent and finishing has been there, and his quality was producing goals before Arteta ever came on board.
Wasted the Spring last year on the bench honestly. However now, he is making the attack tick, and only a fool benches him.
I think I read he was an unused sub in 9 games this season .
Good points Sean
Earlier performances had shown that he was still finding his way back. He was also in Brazil’s Olympic squad where he could not nail down a spot and when he did play it was clear that he was not back to the levels he had demonstrated previously.
Younger players, particularly those who have had significant injuries need to be managed carefully. Naturally, they want to play every game but the manager needs to make a careful judgement as to when they should play.
Are you saying Arteta improved Martinelli?
He finishes better than all the youngsters we have, Saka included. He should have been given those opportunities Nkethia wasted if our manager had any idea of what he was doing? I know injury, but don’t talk like we are not watching the games.
It’s taken this months for Arteta to try Martinelli that we already knew his level even B4 he was appointed.
Well said.
THANK YOU AUBA FOR NOT GETTING BACK IN TIME AND BEING TARDY. It was the only way Martinelli was going to get in anytime before AFCon.
Saka and ESR getting injured initially gave him the opportunity. Before this, arteta was giving him garbage time minutes and likely would’ve persisted with that. Similar story with ESR last season finally getting a chance. im glad the youngsters get take their chances seriously, but feel like we could’ve picked up more points if Arteta didn’t stop them from getting chances for such a long time.
I agree his class was never in doubt but feel that his game now is much more mature then it was when he burst onto the scene.
Like Arteta said last week, he now knows how to shift through the gears whereas previously he knew only one speed and was getting lots of injuries.
Would he be where he is if Arteta had just let him play? Maybe, but there are no guarantees. All we know now – as with ESR- is they are where they are and that’s a pretty good place. To say anything else is just conjecture.
So personally have absolutely no problem with the way their development has been managed and suspect I’Il be saying the same about Saliba this time next year.
It’s so good to see Martinelli play so well despite the manager showing he doesn’t believe in him.
I love the believe he has in himself. He has completely ignored the Managers opinion about himself and has gone on to completely prove himself, he knew one way or the other. Injury, suspension or other wise he will prove his point.
This is the same as in Saliba’s case which was probably why Arteta intelligently did not register him at all.
from a team standpoint, it’s always good to see a young player prove his worth in spite of the problematic circumstances, whereas from a managerial perspective it clearly show that MA still isn’t ready for the multi-faceted task at hand…one can only hope that lessons have been learned from this particular situation, unlike the last time when ESR landed on our manager’s radar purely by happenchance
I much prefer DANS usually fine articles to his slowboat waffling,long winded videos.
This piece was a very fine and true one.
According to all the “MA out agenda fools” all the good things that have happened to us under MA’s time as manager are through pure chance and ” despite Arteta, not because of him” which is an actual quote from one of the fools.
Now, I say this as someone who myself has harboured doubts over MA’s suitability.
But to read this sort of tripe is pure nonsense, whatever ones personal views are on MA. No one but a fool claims he has not made many mistakes but no one but a fool also claims that all he does is wrong.
The team is plainly showing real progess now and that should be obvious to all who are fairminded and without a personal agenda.
But a good many will never see anything at all good in him, no matter how huge or pressing the positive evidence is. Sigh!
Jon, I can see why you might believe yourself to be an expert on all things fool-related, as you’re imprudent behaviour in regards to our manager has been on display for all to see for some time now…one can only expect that it’s only a matter of time before you will be offering up some sort of tedious diatribe about how you once again have changed your opinion on this matter, which in my estimation would be the fourth such time that this has occurred…as the winds blow I guess…how apropos for our resident blowhard
Jon Fox- how you believe you can even think of calling me a fool I just cannot fathom.
And I quote “Never before have I been more certain than I am today that Unai Emery is the right man to manage Arsenal”. Remember that you Bufoon? It was immediately after we were humiliated at Anfield. On the drive back to London I read that out to the 3 mates I went to the game with and they laughed at you PAL.
Again, only at the beginning of this season you wanted Arteta out. You lost all support for him. Remember why Captain Mainwaring? It was because he extended Xhaka contract and you finished with him immediately.
You really are a MUG PAL
You have taken a beating off myself and Dan Kit these last few days and this is the only way you could think of getting back at us.
Your a MUG.
As Ken said yesterday PAL you no nothing about football. You have an ego bigger than your gob, which is very hard to believe I know.
MUG
Great article, thanks Dan.
You explained very well why we all love Martinelli and want to see him playing week in week out.
That guy is so special. Coming from Brazil to England a few weeks after his 18th birthday and scoring 10 goals in his first season at the club is just unbelievable. I don’t recall ever witnessing such performance.
I don’t understand why MA didn’t play him more after he came back from injury. At least now Martinelli has become impossible to ignore and should be playing a big part until the end of season.
Laca seems to be a better complement to Martinelli than Auba. Laca can hold up play and has passing skills to take advantage of Martinelli’s runs.
Martinelli is a class player, there was absolutely no doubt from day one. Arsenal is indeed lucky to have him in our line up and luckier still because he was planning to leave in January. Now both Martinelli and Arteta are happy with each other and he will remain with Arsenal for a very long time. So great.
I agree with you Jon on the point that a lot of these are happen chance and not arteta’s expertise. the fact remains that the coach believes he knows it all. from day one in arsenal, martinelli is a hit. arteta just made up his mind against playing him. tank God for Pepe and Auba who lost forms. If the coach remains stubborn, Saliba will go the way of Gnabry. Any good coach will make super stars out of arrays of young talents in our disposal.