Some Arsenal fans and pundits still do not understand the club’s decision to cash in on Gabriel Martinelli this summer, with the Brazilian completing a move to Al Hilal.
It was clear that the Gunners wanted Martinelli to leave, as they omitted him from their squads even when a transfer had not yet been agreed between Arsenal and the Saudi Pro League club. The decision raised questions, particularly after the Gunners enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent times when they won the league last term.
Arsenal decided to sell Martinelli
Most clubs would look to retain the core of a winning squad, which is what many expected from Arsenal. However, before the World Cup ended, the Gunners accepted an offer for Leandro Trossard, replacing the Belgian with Christos Tzolis, and told Martinelli that he was next.
Gabriel Jesus was another attacker the club asked to leave, and both players have now departed. With Arsenal choosing to move on two experienced attackers, there is a possibility that financial considerations played a significant role in those decisions.
The Gunners had invested heavily in improving their squad, and that spending meant they needed to consider their finances when making decisions about player sales. Selling established players can provide an immediate source of income while also reducing the squad.
Gunners needed to balance books
Football Insider says that after Arsenal splashed the cash in the summer of 2025 to improve their squad, the Gunners needed to balance their books this summer. That would explain why the club was prepared to part ways with players who had previously been important members of the team.
Arsenal therefore needed to bring in some cash, and one of the quickest ways to raise funds was to sell some of their top players. The departures of Martinelli, Trossard and Jesus have helped the Gunners generate funds while making changes to their attacking options.
Although some supporters and pundits remain unconvinced by the decision to sell Martinelli, Arsenal appear to have viewed the move as part of a wider financial strategy. The Brazilian has now joined Al Hilal, bringing an end to his time with the Gunners.
The decision may continue to generate debate, particularly given Martinelli’s previous importance to Arsenal. However, the club has made its position clear through its actions, and the financial need to balance the books appears to have influenced its decision to sell.
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For the last several summers, it has been rumoured that Martinelli was available. Last summer, I believe the common belief was that £50m would be of interest if offered. He was sold for £60m. I’m not sure how we still needed to “balance the books” after winning the PL and going all the way to the UCL final and the semi in the prior season and other revenues continuing to escalate. There’s been no evidence, at least that I’m aware of, that we have been close to breaking required financial limitations If we were, then you can throw away all the stories about the huge expenditures we were purportedly considering.
Yes, this is also my understanding. Selling a homegrown star player has an instant impact on our books, and financial fair play rules. I would have preferred selling Noni Madueke, but wouldn’t have had the same impact.
To who ?
Good question, Chelsea mugged us again, how many times now? Ridiculous.
But hey, he’s fast, dribbles well, and likeable. The goals will come, or more likely not. Even if he was taller, stronger, and faster, he would just miss more shots more often.
Can’t believe The Murd slipped by us, guess all eyes on Alvarez; you know in case he wasn’t clear the first 3 times, or all Summer in fact.
No worries, we still have January to look forward to for incomings, hopefully. I just don’t think we have enough in attack, 1 or 2 injuries and we right stuffed.
It is difficult to argue with Arteta. He has been brilliant and taken us back to the top in the UK.
As supporters, we do not have the full information so i encourage all to support the manager
So where is all the money Arsenal are touted to have generated in the last season?
And where would they have gotten the money to pay for Vinicius or Alvarez?
Only the club’s hierarchy know what game they are playing with us.
oh Arsenal have lots of money mate
CorporateMan,
I couldn’t have put it better myself. It makes you wonder if they ever really had any intention of signing Vinicius Junior or Alvarez. Something I’ve questioned in a couple of other posts.
Still waiting for that 800 million to show its face and help us out
How much have we spent last five years, what about our net spending? In my opinion we are complaining too much, nothing is good enough..
What the article is speculating on is not consistent with what is known about Arsenal’s finances. They had significant headroom to keep Martinelli without contravening either UEFA or the FA’s rules.
The only way what the article says would make any sense would be if the club had set itself certain limits. This is sometimes necessary to allow more flexibility when trading.
However, in this situation it was almost certainly a choice rather than a “need”.
Arsenal are not in as good a place, as far as meeting fiscal rules as people are trying to make out. We needed to sell to keep us in the plus side, which we are and we did. IF we had bought Vjr or Alvarez, we could have been in breach. So we would have had to have sold another player. Maybe thats where the idea of selling MLS came from (we wanted 80 mil) but that part is just my opinion. So while we are ok, we have to be careful.
It makes sense that financial considerations played a role in the decision to sell, but pure football also.
In the financial side we are yet to see the impact on the books of the additions last summer and those would be significantly affected too by the bonuses due for winning the EPL and on reaching the UCL and let’s not forget, the Carabao Cup.
Jesus’s salary was a huge burden for little football impact, and Gabi was almost A pure profit….. to extract £60m from a player entering last year of contract- even with an extension possible, was also great on a player who has struggled in recent years to make the impact against the type of defences we face week in, week out.
Yes there will be an adjustment on the left I hope that the Calafiori. Tzolis and Eze trio will carry us through most challenges with cameos for Madueke and Dowman – until we have another bite at the market in January
I’ve also heard speculation that Arsenal needed to make at least one big sale, a big profit margin sale. Realistically,that was only going to be one of MLS,Martinelli and Ethan. Remember the rumours about MLS being offered to United? Or the comments made by the CEO? There’s no smoke without fire.
If indeed they had to make a sale,then Martinelli,unfortunately would be my choice out of the three,given he had 1 year left on is contract and the other two have massive potential.
If we had got Vjr or Alvarez we would have had to have made another sale, to keep within the rules for Europe.
As indicated in yesterday’s presser i think Arteta may not view the leavers as key dependable members of the team in relation to the minutes they played through the title race mostly attributed to availability. So imo decision was primarily made for footballing reasons not for financial concerns
I tend to agree amba. That’s not an admission that I agree with all the outgoings but I don’t believe Arsenal are financially stretched
Heaven knows what was going on in the summer; but as champions it was a strange one to not attain specific targets. Early days in the season so we have to wait and see what Arteta can rustle up
Its not about being stretched Sue but being able to work within the European and Prem rules, which are different and require different approaches.