Sometimes, you just know. When Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut. When Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick in his Champions League debut. When Cesc Fabregas conducted the Arsenal midfield as a teenager alongside the inimitable Patrick Vieira. Sometimes, you just know. The player is special.
Gabriel Martinelli is the next. The 18-year-old was signed as a no-name teenager from the depths of Brazilian footballer for £6 million in the summer. Very little was expected of him. But immediately, his talent shone out.
Gabriel Martinelli scored his second Premier League goal of the season, and his ninth in all competitions, in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Sheffield United at the Emirates this afternoon. The young Brazilian was quickest to react to a deflected Bukayo Saka cross just before half-time, and in the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is out for 3 games due to suspension, he filled the gap well from the left-hand side.
His hard-running, effective approach was something that drew praise from Mikel Arteta after the game. A late equalizer from John Fleck means Arsenal have won just one of the last seven in the top flight, but Mikel Arteta‘s side did at least show further signs of improvement.
It was Martinelli’s first 90-minute run-out since before Christmas, having struggled with a hamstring injury recently, and Arteta praised his industry and mentality. Martinelli’s display was one of the positives to come from a disappointing result in the Premier League as Arsenal stayed rooted to the tenth spot despite fourth-placed Chelsea FC losing at Newcastle United.
“He’s an 18-year-old kid with all the enthusiasm but as well, he’s so brave to make decisions, to threaten the opponent every time,” he said.
“He’s all the time in the middle of the goal, waiting for an opportunity to come. The fact he hasn’t played 90 minutes for a while – since his injury – but is still in the way he went about every single action is impressive.”
Martinelli was perhaps a bit of a surprise choice to start, given how much Arteta talked up Reiss Nelson before the game. However, it seems as if the 20-year-old has suffered an injury setback which sounds quite serious. Adding up on Reiss Nelson’s injury;
“We had an incident in training,”
“The doctors are still deciding how long it’s going to take, but it’s not looking good.”
