Gabriel Martinelli was one of Arsenal’s most outstanding players at the start of this season.
The Brazilian was in such fine form that when Mikel Arteta became the club’s manager he continued to trust him.
However, when Eddie Nketiah returned from his loan spell at Leeds United, he seemed to move ahead of the Brazilian in the pecking order.
The young Englishman has impressed, no doubt, and he must really have something that Arteta admires for him to be playing ahead of Alexandre Lacazette.
I was excited about the return of football and after seeing Martinelli add some muscles during the lockdown, I was excited to see him use some of his new strengths to bully Premier League defenders.
However, the Brazilian hasn’t come off the bench in Arsenal’s two games so far and it makes me wonder what might be going on.
He is not injured as he has been made the bench in both games, so what could have gone wrong for him?
My first suspicion is that just like Lacazette, Martinelli is lacking something that Eddie Nketiah has, possibly something that Arteta has seen in training.
I also think that Arteta might have felt that putting the striker in the spotlight all the time might affect his development.
Another possibility is that he was one of the players that refused a pay cut. Mesut Ozil is the only one that we know for sure who refused a pay cut (Metro) and by coincidence, he has not yet featured.
Whatever the case might be, I would love to see Martinelli back in action as soon as possible. Do you miss him too?
An article by Ime
