Gabriel Martinelli Is Learning Just How Ruthless Mikel Arteta Can Be

LONDON — Mikel Arteta has always had a steely undercurrent to his character.

Even when he was an Arsenal player, the zealously dedicated professional had a distant air. After tearing his ACL at Everton, Arteta decided that his future would one day lie in coaching, going through the rest of his playing career with that goal very much in mind.

“He’s got a bit of Arsène about him,” Neil Banfield, Wenger’s first-team coach at Arsenal, said of Arteta during an interview with The Athletic. “The similarities are in the character they are. You don’t mess with them.”

Gabriel Martinelli is the latest player to be reminded that Arteta is not to be messed with. The popular winger has reportedly rebuffed the club’s efforts to sell him this summer and found himself turfed out of matchday preparations as a consequence. Now that his Community Shield oversight has been compounded by a failure to make the matchday roster for Friday’s Premier League opener against Coventry City, Arteta’s stance has become abundantly apparent.

As harsh as Arteta’s actions may appear from the outside looking in, he has his reasons, which have worked out well for him before.

Why Is Gabriel Martinelli Getting Axed by Arsenal?

“We all know, everything has a start and has an end,” Arteta warned when pushed on the topic of parting ways with established club stars earlier this week. Beyond the simple passing of time, Arsenal are on a constant quest of self-improvement which has now left Martinelli behind.

Earlier this month, Arteta bluntly outlined: “We need to bring more skill and quality to the squad.” For all his abundant physical gifts, finesse has never been a strong point for Martinelli.

The straight-line sprinter thrived for Arsenal at a different point in the club’s trajectory. When faced with large chasms of space in which to use his burning pace, the Brazilian can be an effective weapon. It’s telling that Martinelli’s best scoring season by a huge margin came in 2022–23, that sweet spot when the Gunners made the leap to title challengers before the rest of the division figured it out.

For the past three years, the majority of clubs have afforded Arsenal the ultimate respect of huddling in a low block. “There’s no space to run,” Arteta lamented at the time. “When you’re sitting in traffic, I want to go 100 miles an hour but I have three buses and 55 taxis and motorbikes around me, so it’s tricky.”

Such was his struggle last season, Martinelli was only afforded 11 Premier League starts. There was still plenty of disappointment with a meager tally of just one goal.

Some players have to be sold. After years of extravagant spending with little compromise, Arsenal need to raise some funds to keep the financial inspectors at bay. In a roster already boasting Christos Tzolis and Eberechi Eze, with the prospect of a marquee new left winger still perhaps to arrive, Martinelli’s future was always going to come under scrutiny.

Unable to pick his way through the rush hour of Arsenal’s new reality, it would appear that Martinelli has been ushered toward the taxi rank himself.

Arteta’s Track Record of Ruthlessness

Mesut Özil hiding under an umbrella. — It soon became clear that Mesut Özil and Mikel Arteta would not work out. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

“It’s a really, really tough moment,” Arteta lamented when reflecting on his current predicament. Fortunately, he has ample experience of ruthless culls.

The first staging post in Arteta’s Arsenal tenure was the exile of Mesut Özil. The club’s highest paid player of all time had been one of the young manager’s most prominent advocates: it was the German playmaker who coined the phrase “trust the process” which would become synonymous with Arteta’s tenure. Incidentally, that process involved dropping Özil entirely from first-team duties after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quite what convinced Arteta to shun the team’s talisman remains cloaked in mystery to this day. It came at great expense and forced the club’s ownership into an early choice between their star player or new manager. It would not be the last battle of wills.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was another high earner who spectacularly fell out with Arteta. There was nothing as explosive about the way that goalkeepers Bernd Leno or Aaron Ramsdale were moved on, but Arteta saw no issue ditching his No. 1 midway through a season. If the time calls for a change of personnel, the Arsenal boss will make it regardless of the awkward repercussions off the pitch.

Martinelli Treatment Inspires Mixed Reaction

Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal — Gabriel Martinelli is one of those who could be offloaded. | Andrea Diodato/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

Fans would appear divided on the case of Martinelli. There was a swell of supporters filtering into the Emirates Stadium on Friday night who accepted that, after seven years, it was time to move on. Soccer is the ultimate meritocracy; those who aren’t good enough simply aren’t selected.

For the romantics who argue that Martinelli warrants special consideration given his loyalty and longevity in north London, there is a layer of consensus between both camps: this is not how to treat a player.

“You need to face that reality,” Arteta said of Martinelli’s situation this week. “But 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. These are always very difficult conversations, but they need to be done.”

According to Ian Wright, these conversations have not been had.

In his capacity as a Sky Sports pundit, Arsenal’s former record goalscorer revealed that Martinelli has “not been spoken to” and “doesn’t know what’s going on.” He must have a clue by now.

Ian Wright (center) talking. — Ian Wright (center) was not impressed by Mikel Arteta. | Nigel French/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Getty Images

“With respect to Martinelli and the way Martinelli’s been treated at the moment, it really makes me feel uncomfortable,” Wright fretted, voicing the opinion of many fans. “He always gives 100%—not saying he’s the greatest—he’s really come up with some big moments for Arsenal, some big games and scored some very important goals.

“The way he’s been treated at the end here ... there’s ways of doing that, and it should suit him as well.”

Reports suggest that Martinelli still sees his future at a club among the elite of European soccer. That explains why he rejected Galatasaray’s advances and pours cold water on links to the Saudi Pro League. Yet, as Arteta has proved on numerous previous occasions, the one guiding principle behind the decisions he makes are whether they suit Arsenal, rather than any single player.

“When it comes to the end, I think our duty, our responsibility is to do it in the best possible way,” he admitted, “but understanding that at the end, we need to make football decisions.”

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