Martinelli joins Al Hilal in Arsenal club-record sale

· Sky-Transfer

Gabriel Martinelli has joined Al Hilal in a club-record £60m sale for Arsenal.

Speaking on the Transfer Talk Podcast, David Ornstein discusses Arsenal missing out on Morgan Rogers, Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Jr as the Gunners failed to strengthen their forward line.

Arsenal strengthened their left-hand side with the signing of Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge, who started in the opening two Premier League victories, with Martinelli absent for both games.

After the opening-day win over Coventry, former Arsenal striker Ian Wright told Sky Sports the treatment of Martinelli left him feeling "uncomfortable" and claimed the 25-year-old deserved "more respect".

Martinelli joined the Gunners in 2019 and made 191 Premier League appearances for the club, scoring 41 goals and providing 24 assists.

He made 30 league appearances last season as Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for a Premier League title, but only 11 of those were starts, his lowest since the 2020/21 season.

Saka last player left from Arteta's first squad

Following Gabriel Martinelli's departure, Bukayo Saka is the last player remaining from the squad Mikel Arteta inherited.

The Spaniard joined Arsenal on December 20, 2019 as Unai Emery's permanent successor after Freddie Ljungberg's brief period in interim charge.

Arteta has since drastically changed the squad, which included the likes of David Luiz and Alexandre Lacazette, to take the Gunners from 15th to Premier League champions.

Although William Saliba was an Arsenal player when Arteta joined, he was on loan at Saint-Etienne for the 2019/20 season and didn't make his Premier League debut for the Gunners until the first game of the 2022/23 season in a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.

Martinelli suffered an injury-ridden start under Arteta, but excelled in the 2022/23 season, scoring 15 goals as Arsenal pushed for their first Premier League title in 19 years, however recent form saw him move to third in the left-wing pecking order behind new signing Christos Tzolis and Eberechi Eze.

Read the original

People in this story

Related