Ian Wright Criticizes Arsenal's Treatment of Martinelli

Ian Wright has condemned Arsenal’s handling of Gabriel Martinelli, insisting the Brazilian forward has earned far better treatment than he is currently receiving.

Martinelli, 25, played 53 times in all competitions last season, scored 11 goals and helped Arsenal to the Premier League title. Four years after arriving from Ituano and growing into a crowd favourite under Mikel Arteta, he now finds himself on the outside looking in.

He has not even made the bench in either of Arsenal’s opening games of the new campaign – the 3-0 Premier League win over Coventry on Friday or the Community Shield victory over Manchester City before that – at a time when the club are openly inviting offers for him.

That has not sat well with Wright.

"The way Martinelli is being treated at the moment, it really makes me feel uncomfortable," the former Arsenal striker told Sky Sports. "I know they might want him out, and a lot of people might say, 'yeah, it's time for him to move him on'. But there's ways of doing that and it should suit him as well, how he wants to leave.

"Not being involved in the squad, not being spoken to, he doesn't know what's going on. And yes, I know this – he doesn't know what is happening.

"He's done enough with this squad to be treated with a little bit more respect than he's being treated with at the moment."

Title winners, ruthless choices

Arsenal insist this is not a freeze-out. Internally, they point to the depth that now exists in Arteta’s squad, and to the performance of new signing Christos Tzolis, who impressed on the left wing against Coventry in Martinelli’s preferred role.

The club even tried to go bigger in that area. They made an attempt to sign Vinicius Jr before the Brazil star chose to extend his stay at Real Madrid. That pursuit, combined with the arrival of Tzolis, underlines just how aggressively Arsenal are reshaping their attack off the back of last season’s title win.

From Martinelli’s perspective, the picture is stark. Wright spelt it out.

"If you bring Vini in, Martinelli can say to himself, 'OK, they've brought him in, they've brought Tzolis in, I might be third [in the pecking order]," he said.

"But if you bring Tzolis in and have [Noni] Madueke on the other side, you're thinking to yourself, 'I can still have it with these two, I've got something to offer'.

"For him to be nowhere near it, it just makes me feel a bit sad for him."

Most sellable asset

Behind the scenes, the logic is cold. Arsenal want at least one significant sale before the transfer window closes and have made it clear that Martinelli is available. Alongside Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira, he is viewed as one of the club’s most valuable assets in the market.

Martinelli has already rejected a move to Galatasaray. If he does leave the Emirates Stadium, he is understood to be targeting a top European club rather than a step down from the Champions League stage he helped Arsenal return to.

Arteta, speaking before the Coventry game, did not address Martinelli directly but did not shy away from the reality that established players may have to go.

"It's a really tough moment, but you need to face that reality," he said. "You need to face it with real honesty and transparency because when you are on the other side, that's exactly what you need.

"You might not like what you've been told, but if it's truthful, if it's the reality, if it's honest and it's going to help you to make better decisions and have more clarity for the next steps in your career, you have to do that.

"Everything has a start and has an end. And when it comes to the end, our duty, and our responsibility is to do it in the best possible way, maintaining the respect and admiration for the player and the relationship, but understanding that at the end, we need to make football decisions."

Respect, admiration, football decisions. Wright’s complaint is that, for Martinelli, only one of those three feels visible right now.