Gabby Agbonlahor has tipped Gabriel Martinelli to thrive at centre-forward for Arsenal, likening his potential playing style to Thierry Henry.
The Brazilian will miss our next match against Brentford after suffering a double-yellow card against Wolves on Thursday, but should be available when his side take on Wolverhampton at the Emirates shortly after that.
With a gap until he is next in action, he is reported to be training to fill in at centre-forward, with the club having left themselves a little short of options through the middle after allowing both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Folarin Balogun to leave in January.
Agbonlahor has tipped Martinelli to thrive in a new role, claiming he has ‘everything’ that would help him flourish at CF.
“He looks like that sort of number nine who will drift out wide from the centre and make runs behind defenders and be a menace.,” Agbonlahor told the FootballInsider.
“He can finish too. I think he’s got everything to be a number nine.
“Then you can fit Nicolas Pepe on one wing and Bukayo Saka on the other. It definitely works, for me.
“Lacazette doesn’t offer enough agility and speed to play as Arsenal’s number nine at the moment.
“Martinelli can be like Henry and Henry did it all. I don’t see why Martinelli can start in the centre and drift out wide. He’s got it all as a centre-forward.”
I understand that Gabi prefers to play out wide, but being the main man in attack doesn’t mean he isn’t allowed to drift into wider areas, much like we have seen from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Thierry Henry at the club previously. Add that to the fact that Martinelli moving into attack would mean that we could play all of Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka in the same side as him.
Do you think Martinelli could be the long-term plan for the central role?
Patrick