Arsenal transfer news: why has the Martinelli case become such a problem for the club?

Gabriel Martinelli is going through one of the most delicate moments of his time at Arsenal.

At 25, the Brazilian has gone from being an important piece in Mikel Arteta's side to being treated by the club as a saleable asset, at a moment when his career is also entering a decisive phase with the Brazil national team.

The issue is not simply the possibility of a sale: it is how Arsenal got to this point. Martinelli is coming off a poor season, has lost his place in the side, and the club attempted to sign Vinicius Junior to occupy the very position he plays. Now, his departure is being negotiated.

At the same time, the Brazilian is reported not to have been directly informed that the Gunners intended to sell him. That turns a reasonable footballing decision into an uncomfortable situation. And, according to Trivela, Martinelli is also holding talks with other European clubs beyond the recent interest from Al-Hilal and Galatasaray.

Martinelli is no longer the player he was in 2022-23

It is worth starting with the most uncomfortable point: Arsenal do have footballing reasons to question Martinelli.

The Brazilian reached his peak in the 2022-23 season, scoring 15 goals and providing five assists in the Premier League. That amounted to 20 direct goal contributions in a campaign in which he was one of the main symbols of Arsenal's youthful energy and physical intensity.

Since then, however, his output has declined. In 2023-24, he managed six goals and four assists in the league. In 2024-25, eight goals and four assists. Those are not bad numbers, but they fall short of what was expected following a season of consolidation. And last season was particularly disappointing: one goal and three assists in 26 Premier League appearances, only ten of them as a starter.

It is not simply a matter of statistics. Martinelli has lost some of that ability to turn pace into territorial advantage that once made him such a dangerous attacker. His best football comes when he is given space to attack the last line, accelerate towards goal and press the opposition's build-up.

The problem is that Arteta's Arsenal have increasingly come up against low-block sides, which demands more from wingers in terms of creating in tight spaces, combining centrally and generating positional advantages. Bukayo Saka has managed to adapt to that context. Martinelli, less so. That helps explain why the position became one of Arsenal's priorities.

At the same time, Arsenal know they need to improve their left flank. On the right, Saka is undisputed. On the left, however, Arteta has never found a solution he fully trusts. The club even attempted a move of major impact: Vinicius Junior.

The Real Madrid Brazilian would have offered something Martinelli can no longer deliver with the same consistency: the ability to beat opponents one-on-one, attack depth, accelerate transitions and produce goals without relying so heavily on collective structure. The deal did not progress, and Vinicius decided to stay in Madrid.

Before that, Arsenal signed Christos Tzolis, while Leandro Trossard left the club. Tzolis could well become an excellent player, as he has shown in his performances early in the season, but he is not yet a forward at Vinicius's level, nor does he arrive with the expectation of immediately transforming the position.

That creates a dilemma: if Martinelli leaves, Arsenal will have one fewer winger capable of offering depth and explosiveness, while still not having found the elite player they wanted for the role. That is an important argument for questioning the decision to simply let the Brazilian go.

Arsenal were wrong not to be clear with Martinelli

Arsenal had been working to find a solution for Martinelli's future and even received an offer worth around £38.4 million from Galatasaray.

The Brazilian, however, showed no interest in moving to Turkey. The stranger part was something else entirely: Martinelli is reported not to have been informed directly by Arsenal that the club wanted to sell him.

In other words, a player who has been at Arsenal since 2019, made 278 appearances, scored 62 goals and provided 36 assists, and who played a leading role in building the side that returned Arsenal to genuine title contention, found out through the market that his own club was looking for a buyer.

That is a delicate situation, because Martinelli is no ordinary figure in Arsenal's recent rebuild. He arrived as a teenager, developed within Arteta's project, and was an important part of the team that returned to competing for the English title.

Even if the decision to sell him is the right one, there are better ways to handle the situation, particularly given that Arsenal have spent recent years building a very strong squad culture.

The relationship between manager, players and supporters has become one of the pillars of the project. Treating Martinelli as a tradeable asset without an honest conversation does not sit well with that.

Martinelli's alternatives were not exactly appealing

It is also worth considering the other side of the argument: Martinelli did not exactly have a queue of European giants waiting for him.

Galatasaray came forward with a significant offer, but the Brazilian did not want to play in Turkey, and the deal ultimately failed to progress. That is understandable from the player's perspective.

Martinelli is 25, has previously started for Arsenal in Champions League and Premier League campaigns, and remains on Brazil's national team radar. It is reasonable that he would want to remain in a highly competitive environment. But that also creates a problem for Arsenal.

The fewer interested clubs there are, the harder it becomes to secure the desired fee. Al-Hilal have since emerged as an option and the Saudi club has opened talks with Arsenal and the player's representatives. It is a different proposal from Galatasaray's in terms of value too: the Saudis can offer more money both to the club and to the player.

That said, the report has also learned that Martinelli is in talks with two other European clubs, in addition to discussions with Al-Hilal. Those clubs have not been named, but there remains room for the Brazilian to stay at a major European club.

Even so, with Al-Hilal in the picture, the discussion stops being purely about Arsenal and the market. Martinelli is entering an important stage of his career, and his decision over his next club would change a great deal.

The Brazil national team is about to begin a new cycle following the World Cup. Competition for places in attack will be fierce, especially with players such as Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, Rodrygo, Estevao and others emerging.

The even stranger issue: Arteta's justification

This is a point that deserves correcting, as it involves the actual rules of the Premier League. Arteta has spoken about the need to manage squad composition and the issue of homegrown players. The problem is that Martinelli is, officially, classed as a player developed in England under Premier League rules.

The league's definition requires a player to have been registered with a club affiliated to the FA or the Football Association of Wales for at least three full seasons, or 36 months, before turning 21, regardless of nationality. And Martinelli does appear on Arsenal's official list of homegrown players.

This is not a matter of interpretation: the Premier League's own official registration marks Martinelli with the homegrown designation, having arrived at 18 and stayed at the club until 21.

Therefore, if the justification is that Martinelli cannot be used because Arsenal need to meet their homegrown quota, that argument simply does not hold up.

Arsenal can register up to 25 players in their first-team squad, with a maximum of 17 permitted who do not meet homegrown criteria. Martinelli occupies precisely one of the spots that count towards the English quota.

That does not mean he necessarily has to play, and Arteta may simply prefer other players. But it is important to separate the two issues: a squad-size limitation does not prevent Martinelli from being registered under the homegrown rule.

Arsenal need to decide what kind of club they want to be

At its core, the Martinelli situation reflects a broader question facing Arsenal. The club reached the top of the Premier League after a patient rebuild. In 2025-26, they won the English title for the first time in 22 years and also finished the season as Champions League runners-up, losing the final to PSG on penalties. Now, the standard has changed.

It is no longer enough to build a competitive squad. Arteta needs players capable of deciding a Champions League semi-final, the closing stages of a Premier League title race, a tight match against an opponent that shuts up shop completely.

Saka is already that kind of player, and Vinicius could have been another. Martinelli, at this moment, does not appear to be part of that group.

The sale, then, may well make sense. The way it is being handled, perhaps not. And there is another irony at play: Arsenal could end up selling a 25-year-old winger to help fund the search for another winger, having previously tried to sign the best player in the world for that exact position.

If the replacement genuinely proves to be better, no one will remember the controversy surrounding Martinelli. But if Tzolis needs time to adapt, if Arsenal fail to find another elite player, and if the team ends up missing pace and depth down the left, the decision could end up looking premature.

And for Martinelli, swapping London for Saudi Arabia, for example, right as a new cycle begins for the Brazil national team, could prove to be an even riskier move. Arsenal have every right to decide it is time to move on without him, but perhaps they should have shown the same clarity with the player himself.