Gabriel Martinelli's Arsenal Exit: A Brutal End to His Journey
Gabriel Martinelli’s Arsenal story is almost over – and the ending is brutal.
The Brazilian, the club’s longest-serving player, has been told in no uncertain terms by Mikel Arteta to find a new club, with a move to Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League now looming. For a player who helped drag Arsenal back to the elite and lived through the club’s transition years, the sudden cut feels especially stark.
Arteta’s cold call
This isn’t a gentle phasing out. Arteta has frozen Martinelli out of recent matchday squads entirely, a clear and public signal that his time in north London is done. It comes just weeks after Arsenal lifted the Premier League title, and it underlines how ruthless the manager intends to be as he tries to keep the champions on top.
Inside the dressing room, that approach has not landed smoothly. ESPN reports “some discomfort” among the squad, with several players strongly sympathetic towards Martinelli. The sense is clear: one of their own is being pushed aside without sentiment.
Community Shield flashpoint
Tension spiked around the Community Shield win over Manchester City. Martinelli was not just left on the bench – he was left out altogether. No place in the squad. No medal.
That decision, according to the same report, left the forward “greatly disappointed”, and some senior players were also deeply unhappy with how bluntly he had been excluded. For many, that was the moment the writing on the wall turned into a billboard.
New faces, new flank
The transfer business only reinforced the message. Arsenal’s £34 million move for Christos Tzolis earlier in the summer was a major statement on the left wing. The club then went even bigger in ambition with an audacious, if ultimately unsuccessful, push to lure Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid.
Those moves painted a clear picture: Arteta wanted to reshape his left side, and Martinelli was no longer at the centre of that plan.
From cornerstone to casualty
Martinelli’s journey makes this all the more striking. Since his debut in 2019, he has amassed nearly 300 appearances across all competitions for Arsenal. He arrived as a raw teenager and grew into a symbol of the club’s revival, his energy and directness becoming part of the team’s identity.
Even as his individual influence dipped slightly last season, he still played a key role in Arsenal’s run to the Champions League final and their first league title since 2004. To go from that to total exclusion within months shows just how hard-edged Arteta’s regime has become.
Saudi move gathers pace
His absence from the Premier League opener against Coventry City only hardened the sense of inevitability. No injury. No involvement. Just another omission pointing in one direction.
Galatasaray showed interest, but their proposal never truly appealed to Martinelli. Globo Esporte reports that, after some initial hesitation, he has now given the green light to a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia with Al Hilal.
The last hurdle is the fee. Arsenal are pushing for a package in the region of £60 million for a player who has given them years of service and big moments on the biggest stages. ESPN, though, suggests the final figure is likely to land closer to £40 million.
If that’s where it ends, Arsenal will bank a substantial sum, Arteta will get the reset he clearly wants on the left flank, and one of the club’s modern pillars will walk away with no medal from his final trophy – only the memory of a title, a Champions League final, and a sense that his chapter closed far more abruptly than anyone expected.
