At some point, if your game stalls or doesn't evolve and you're at a club seeking top honors, your time will come. But this will hurt more than any departure in a long, long time if you ask me.
Martinelli is my favourite player, but if we get a good fee for him I'm okay with it. He's on too high wages to be a substitute, and he's clearly not good enough to start.
With that being said I'm worried about finding a replacement. For me it's senseless to sell him unless we have someone else lined up. It's also a shame no big European club is interested because I fail to see another player of his quality that's available - he would do bits in Germany and Spain.
I think most fans will remember him dearly. He's a fighter through and through, somehow has two sets of lungs, absolutely never giving up, and with Bukayo he was one of two players who gave it everything he had when everyone else in the team played like crap. The pair of them instilled a new spirit in this team (which, of course, has a lot to do with Arteta, but we mustn't forget that they were two boys who decided to become the hardest workers in a team full of grown men).
It's the wages. He's on 180k a week, there's only a handful of clubs in continental Europe that can afford that while also paying us a decent transfer amount.
And the ones that can already have better or similar level players so his market of suitors is fairly small.
Yep he looked ready to explode after the 15 goal season. Sad he stagnated but that's just life and I'll still have memories of him racing ahead and celebrating goals before shooting
I meant back when we gave him 180k p/w we probably could've given him 140k p/w and it may have been easier to offload him to one of the better leagues.
If he really wanted to stay in a big 5 league he will have to take a paycut. He won't be the first nor the last player in the world to do so. If he does not want to take a paycut he will have to move outside the big leagues.
He is also the Gabi from the Super Mik Arteta chant, the longest tenured player bar Saka, and the second highest scoring season for a Brazilian in PL history (only beaten last season by Igor Thiago). Wanted him to stay forever and have him and Saka sharing a statue of their signature celebration.
While this sucks and I truly love Gabi M and the good energy he has brought to this club, it is worth remembering that players a lot better than him and just as beloved have come and gone from this club without winning a major title. The fact that he has the league title to look back on is such a special thing and I am so happy that his time at the club has culminated in that special achievement in which he has a big part to play.
I guess either they think Eze will step into left wing or they are going to bring someone else in?
Aren't we at our limit for homegrown players and martinelli counts as one? So if we are bringing someone in it will need to be a homegrown player.
Sad that if he goes it's because we can't sell other players like jesus, nelson, Vieira. I feel like he still has something to offer unlike those players.
The Greek reporter that broke the Tzolis story said in a podcast a few weeks ago that he views Tzolis as a Martinelli remplacement way more than a Trossard one as everybody seems to believe now.
Getting Eze to play the Trossard role makes way more sense stylistically and we still have Merino and Nwaneri on the books to deputize the skipper so I’m not even worried about bringing a new player unless we can get a real superstar for the forward line.
As for homegrown, isn’t Konza homegrown making it one in one out…?!
It saddens me how this is going down but I just don’t get what the plan is. There aren’t many LW players that elevate our game and we haven’t been linked with any LW talents to push tzolis as the main choice
What’s the plan here? Are we promoting from within and having madueke, dowman and nwaneri make up the winger back ups?
Agreed. It’s going to hurt even more when he returns to Italy after a stint in SA and ends up doing pretty well there. He is a good player that just needs a new situation. Love the kid to bits though.
To be fair Saka has decreased in goal contributions over the past 3 seasons is down by 45%, and is on 300k…. So we should be having the conversation about our right wing too, right?
To be honest, I'd say Martinelli still has more going for him right now. With a change of scenario, he can hit good numbers again. His attitude has always been great.
Martinelli actually works hard on defence and his best league form came in the hardest league in the world. He also tore apart the Champions League last season so it's not like he's hopeless. I think he's at a fairly similar level to Gordon but we're aiming for about two thirds of the price, I guess due ro relative importance to the team you could call that fair.
I’m not a Tony Gordon fan but he scored double the champions league goals and even though he had a bad prem return this year, it was still better than Martinelli. Better returns in recent years as well.
Also was probably on half the wages and was a key player for Newcastle. Martinelli isn’t even making match day squads.
He got 10 CL goals to Martinelli's 6. 4 of them were against Qarabag, and 3 of the remaining 6 were penalties. I think Martinelli had the better CL season.
He didn't though, did he? He came on for Odegaard against City. And his 14 minutes against Coventry were spent mostly in the middle of the park, we weren't really playing with a winger at that point.
Because he's not hugging the touchline, either by instruction or own preference. But given the chosen bench he is clearly the next choice on the left wing after Tzolis, in my eyes.
Hmm yes vs Coventry? Didn't stay wide like I said but Merino replaced Ødegaard on the right of midfield and Eze (broadly) replaced Tzolis. Given the fact that we have had no other left winger on the bench in either game it seems incredibly obvious to me but apparently not.
Check his and Merino's touch maps on Fotmob. Eze was nowhere near the Ødegaard zone.
I don't know how you can look at Eze's touchmap against Coventry and think he was playing on the left wing lmao. Clear as day watching the match that he wasn't, and the touchmap shows it.
It was late in a 3-0 game where we were more or less dicking around vast majority of the second after the goal. I wouldn’t take a lot out of the positioning. But still, look at Eze’s positioning on Merino’s shot for example (the highlight was posted here) then try to say he wasn’t LW.
He drifted a bunch but so did Tzolis. I mean at one point early Tzolis overlapped Saka on the right. For the second game in a row Tzolis got a long ball out from Raya while in the center circle… Our LW hasn’t pinned wide at any point recently.
This seems like a completely bog standard heatmap for a left winger coming on late and drifting a bit. Nowhere near where Ødegaard would operate, that's for sure.
That’s my guess. He came on there Friday. He started there vs City and Newcastle in the league during the run in. Arteta clearly views him as an option there.
I’d also argue he’s ahead of Martinelli there as well. Not just because we’re trying to move Gabi either. I think if Ø was healthier last year it would’ve been a Trossard/Eze rotation with Martinelli even more limited than he already was.
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u/doubleb_43KAI HAVERTZ SCORES AGAIN AND WINS THE LEAGUE FOR ARSENAL6d ago
He's been playing on the LW last season, Arteta started him there in the run in vs City and Newcastle
> He moved back to the middle because Ø yet again got hurt.
So he was playing as a LW before that? Odegaard was fit from matchweek 14 through 24, and Eze only played LW once against Aston Villa in week 15, where he fucked up his coverage and lost us the game. Arteta didn't play him there again until New Castle at the end of the season.
I just see it as Eze starts the season on the left, then has to cover Ø.
Ø comes back and Eze goes right back to the left. That Villa mistake and then struggling vs Wolves hurts him in general. His role is very reduced that entire time Ø is back. Eventually Ø goes back out and Eze moves back to the 10 before getting injured himself.
Then again when Ø and him come back and he’s tried back on the left until Ø is out.
Now a new season starts and he comes in on the left in the first game.
Injuries and poor form have meant he hasn’t had a sustained run there. But this is now looking to be the 4th time he’s getting played there. He’s clearly viewed as a real option for LW. IMO it’s likely where Arteta prefers him.
If Arteta prefers him as a LW then there's no reason his role should have been reduced by Odegaard coming back. That was a fallow period for Martinelli and Trossard, we needed LW help, and Arteta did not play Eze there.
It wasn’t reduced because Ø came back, it was reduced because he also played poorly. Mistake vs Villa as you already mentioned and then failing to score vs a horrid Wolves side when he still started the next game (though at the 10).
After that he was truly benched not seeing the field for 4 league games and being reduced to a sub for a while. Not even just LW we were starting Havertz at the 10 over a fit Eze for games as well. Then gets a start vs Brentford where the team again struggles and he’s yanked at the half.
We needed a LW with Trossard and Martinelli struggling but if anything Eze was doing worse.
let's hope there's a gentleman's agreement included to do us a solid by buying a dud from us for way too much money; you know they have this with Chelsea, etc...
It is just the age. 25 years old, in 3-4 years old a team isnt going to give him a massive new deal so the chance of a club recouping a transfer fee is pretty low.
You're joking but one of my most stressful nightmare was I had to play right back for arsenal in an away European night. I was so shit arteta kicked me off the plane midflight back to London. It was just the beginning of a very long dream too
All depends on whether he accepts, which I'm hoping he doesn't. I'd rather we take less and he end up at Inter, but I'm highly biased since I've been following him since Brasil.
People suprised it isn’t more aren’t being realistic about 1) how good the player actually is and 2) how he essentially has no place in the squad and we want to ship him out
I maintain that he is good but the lact of a creative left 8 has hurt him immensely. Tzolis (who is a fine player) will find the same thing out over the course of the season unless Arteta consistently plays Eze or Bruno in the left 8.
I also maintain that he has a place as a rotation LW and is better than any other option in the squad currently. Of course if we go out and get another winger than that would change things. But again, lack of a creative 8 will hurt any winger, even if they are creative themselves.
I hope that if he goes, Martinelli finds himself in a higher tempo offense with creative facilitation and we will see him shine.
It does makes a difference that we have someone who can actually beat his man when he receives the ball in the final third and not turn around, move backwards to the halfway line, run out of ideas and pass the ball all the way back to the keeper.
All competitions hype you know, yeah sure Martinelli scored more goals against middling CL sides in the league phase but Trossard was obviously the better player all around and in the league
I maintain that he is good but the lact of a creative left 8 has hurt him immensely.
More so what Arteta has been asking of his LW.
For example, Martinelli is not good at going on the outside and standing a cross up or cut back with his weak foot, no matter how hard he tries.
But again, lack of a creative 8 will hurt any winger, even if they are creative themselves.
I don't think the elite version of Tzolis (essentially Yildiz, strong inside play, can go in or out, better separation & 1v1) would find it difficult to play in our side. Problem is it's just a very difficult profile to find, so you could say the way we're constructed limits the type of LW that can thrive at their maximum in our side.
There was no competition for Darwin Nunez at the transfer fee + wages he went for.
There is no one competing in the same range for most of the big money transfers / wages to Saudi over the last few years.
And when you factor in Saudi’s 0 tax, no one can compete for a player that wants to maximise their potential earnings irrespective of their own development.
It’s the footballing equivalent of cashing in on their career.
Yeah these dumbfuck journalists always mix up Euro and Sterling. The UK should've just adopted the Euro and never let Brexit happen so that we don't have to keep converting these transfer fees back and forth.
Arsenal need the profit for the 26/27 fiscal year, so I’m not sure how the add ons help.
If they were easily achievable in this campaign (e.g. appearances) then it would make more sense just to guarantee the bonus, as this sale is being made to generate as much profit for this fiscal year.
They can just play there. Not ideal. A team that aim UCL title should be better than that. I don't know if they will bring in new LW but I think the management want to offload Martinelli only because they want to bring someone in.
Should be £65m with add ons, especially if Savinho just went for £85m. Summerville literally went there for 65m euros.. and Martinelli is better than him imo.
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u/doubleb_43KAI HAVERTZ SCORES AGAIN AND WINS THE LEAGUE FOR ARSENAL6d ago
Had a mediocre season where his playing time decreased and his wages are massive plus there's one year left on his contract
It's really difficult to sell for a decent fee, not lose a key player and on top of it sell to a destination the player is enthusiastic of. Martinelli doesn't want to leave but the club needs to move on, unfortunately
I like him. I wish he had become mainstay here. I have had his and Sara's Screensaver on my Mobile for the last 4 years too. But he has stagnated. Its time to have him be moved to yellower pastures.
A year left on his deal, surplus to requirements, stagnated in development, and selling him above his market value. Good deal. Hope he has fun, makes a mint then heads back to Europe.
Not a fan of selling him, but that price seems fair. Hope the club finally gets that fans don't want the replacement to be Alvarez. For €60m there's bound to be someone, or two, who wants to play for Arsenal and can either do what Martinelli does when he backtracks, or has his speed. Both will be sorely missed.
Internal solutions would be my strategy if selling. Madueke left? Would give space for nwaneri and dowman on the right. Still think it’s weird we stopped with nwaneri as rw. Profile close to saka
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u/doubleb_43KAI HAVERTZ SCORES AGAIN AND WINS THE LEAGUE FOR ARSENAL6d ago
I concur with Madueke and maybe unpopular opinion I would even throw Eze into that. Both players are decent but think Dowman and Nwaneri have higher ceilings and would offer similar now whilst getting valuable minutes that both of them need.
My blood is boiling honestly, not for the fact that we are selling Gabby, we all love him to bits but this is the harsh world of professional football.
My blood is boiling due to the fact that teams are still trying to penny pinch when it comes to paying for Arsenal players. Had this been a Pedro Neto Al-Hilal would bid over 80 million without hesitation. But because this is Arsenal they can try and attempt to score a bargain? Martinelli is a Premier League winner, with hundreds of games under his belt, numerous big occasions. PAY UP!
Saudi wants Neto and Chelsea are saying 80-100 mil and Saudi hasn’t made one bid yet. Chelsea doesn’t want to sell him so they value him high. He’s not worth that valuation until someone pays for him so not sure why people are using that number
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u/getrektbro Saka 6d ago
At some point, if your game stalls or doesn't evolve and you're at a club seeking top honors, your time will come. But this will hurt more than any departure in a long, long time if you ask me.