Ian Wright: Arsenal Must Respect Martinelli Amid Transfer Talks

Ian Wright has challenged Arsenal over their handling of Gabriel Martinelli, insisting the Brazilian deserves “more respect” as the club listen to offers for the winger.

Martinelli, 25, played 53 times in all competitions last season, scoring 11 goals as Arsenal finally got their hands back on the Premier League trophy. He was a constant presence in Mikel Arteta’s squad throughout that title charge.

Now he is nowhere to be seen.

Left out of the matchday squad for the opening 3-0 league win over Coventry on Friday. Omitted again for the Community Shield victory against Manchester City. Available for transfer.

For a player who has been part of Arteta’s core since arriving from Ituano in 2019, the sudden cold shoulder has jarred with one of the club’s modern icons.

“The way Martinelli is being treated at the moment, it really makes me feel uncomfortable,” Wright 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.”

Depth, Competition – and a Casualty

Arsenal insist this is not a freeze-out. Club sources point to the depth Arteta now has in wide areas and highlight the impact of new signing Christos Tzolis, who impressed on the left wing against Coventry in Martinelli’s usual territory.

The club also pushed hard to bring in Vinicius Jr earlier in the window before the Brazilian committed his future to Real Madrid. The message is clear: Arsenal want elite-level competition on the flanks, and they are prepared to be ruthless to get it.

From Wright’s perspective, the shift in hierarchy is understandable. The way it is being handled is not.

“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],’” Wright 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.”

Arsenal’s Balancing Act

Behind the emotion sits a hard financial reality. Arsenal want at least one major sale before the window closes and see Martinelli as one of their most valuable chips, alongside Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira.

Martinelli has already rejected a move to Galatasaray. If he does walk away from the Emirates Stadium, he intends to do so for a top European club, not a step down.

Arteta, speaking before the Coventry game, did not address Martinelli directly but did not shy away from the prospect of big names being moved on.

“It’s a really tough moment, but you need to face that reality,” he said when asked about established players potentially leaving.

“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.”

That final line is where the tension lies. Arsenal insist this is a football decision. Wright argues the respect part is lagging behind.

For a title-winning side trying to stay on top, the margins are brutal. The question now is whether Martinelli’s Arsenal story ends with the clean break Arteta talks about – or with a player who feels he was quietly pushed out of the door.