When Gabriel Martinelli first burst onto the scene for Arsenal in the 2019/20 season, there was a buzz in the air that the Gunners had just found the next big talent in world football – someone who could dominate the left wing for the next decade.
As the teenage sensation’s development continued, he showed glimpses of putting it all together in the 2021/22 season before exploding in the 2022/23 campaign, playing a vital role in helping Arsenal push Manchester City to their limit in the Premier League title race.
Martinelli broke out as a goal-scorer that season with 15 goals, and he wasn’t bad creatively either with 5 assists and a career-high 1.6 key passes per game. Dynamic on the ball, Martinelli was a menace on the left wing, cutting inside and devastating defenders in one-on-ones to the tune of 1.7 dribbles completed per match.
Arsenal had to have thought Martinelli was just starting to rise and find his footing, so it was alarming to watch how underwhelming his encore performance was in the 2023/24 season.
While the Gunners remained Premier League title contenders, just falling short to Man City in the end once again, you couldn’t help but wonder if they would have been the unequivocal best team in England had Martinelli actually built on his 2022/23 season.
Gabriel Martinelli is proving the wrong point to Arsenal
Martinelli scored just 6 goals with 4 assists in the 2023/24 campaign, as he struggled badly with consistency and was often blanketed in important games. It was a far cry from his brilliance in the previous season.
So entering 2024/25, Martinelli had, perhaps, more of a point to prove than any other top player in the Premier League, and, so far, he has, if anything, proven the wrong point to Arsenal.
The title-stakes match against Liverpool on Matchday 9 was a great opportunity for Martinelli to shine, but he made a costly error and was very sloppy in possession, raising the same questions about his lack of progress since the 2022/23 campaign.
Martinelli is still a young player at 23, but he is no longer a teenage prospect. Arsenal’s expectations are higher, and the margin for error is a lot slimmer, with the team increasingly pushing for the Premier League title.
Arsenal didn’t lose to Liverpool, but they could have won if Martinelli were sharper in possession. He hasn’t offered much of a scoring threat this year, with his only goals coming against relegation candidates Leicester City and Southampton.
Arsenal won’t wait forever for Gabriel Martinelli
Although he had an assist against Manchester City and played well against Tottenham, the rest of his performances have left more than just a little bit to be desired. When comparing his output to Leandro Trossard, it’s hard to say that Martinelli definitively offers more than the experienced Belgian winger.
Martinelli is far from a bad player. In fact, he’s a quite good one, despite of the potentially exaggerated criticism he faces from his own fanbase in the aftermath of a frustrating evening against Liverpool.
But the larger point is that Arsenal know the left wing is a marquee position in world football, and, as of right now, they can’t say they have a marquee player in Martinelli when he’s only had one great season and is now in the midst of what could end up being another very mediocre one.
Arsenal aren’t going to wait forever for Martinelli to consistently play at the top level required of a left winger for a Premier League champion. In many ways, the 2024/25 season is a make-or-break one, and performances like this one against Liverpool stand out negatively, especially when his stat sheet reads just two goals and one assist in nine appearances.
No longer a nailed-on starter in the Arsenal XI, Martinelli is a man fighting for his future at the Emirates. It is very much now or never for the Brazilian international, and, hopefully, Mikel Arteta can help light a fire under the 23-year-old before the club decides to make a bold move in summer 2025.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.