Morning all.
I promise this will be my last moan and grown about Arsenal selling Gabriel Martinelli but after his exit was confirmed yesterday, I just wanted to reflect on his time at Arsenal and remember his moments of greatness. I guess what I’m really struggling to come to terms with is how could be deemed less important than his right wing counterpart and no, I don’t mean Bukayo Saka.
Frustrating as he might have been at times, although he’s been far from alone in that category, when he was good, he was very good. I think a trick was missed with him though as my thinking has always been that he’d make a great striker. He was certainly a great defender when that side of the game was required.
I’m going to miss him. As he’s said in his farewell message to the fans, “from 35 to 11, once a Gunner, always as Gunner”.
Thanks for everything Gabriel, you leave as a Champion….
Enjoy this little clip….
good luck Martinelli!
Morning guys, there’s a new post up.
The last player that I was a bit sad to see leave was Emile Smith Rowe
in Australia we often say no need to be loyal to your employer as the they will not be loyal to you.
I hope there’s no disgruntlement Kev because the one thing Arsenal have been of late is a happy camp.
Hard to disagree Merlin..
Ah yes, Martinelli was training with the others
“I read his sale has cheesed off his teammates. Like so many fans, they probably didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Well I saw a training video yesterday Rico and Timber was involved in part of it so it was certainly recent, last couple of days perhaps, I’d imagine that his ‘mates’ in the squad have said their goodbyes, by text, FaceTime, Facebook, whatever if not the other day.
But there are plenty of shitstirrers out there trying to generate some kind of unrest in the squad, so I guess you’ve gotta just see how we play Sunday and then decide if the team is on the precipice… 😬
Morning all.
It pains me to say that decision is a hard head decision and not from the heart, where loyalty does not count, where your efficiency, productivity and performance outweigh all your past loyalty.
Martinelli said he loves Arsenal, loves living in London and will not leave, honour his contract.
He was pushed and why he snubbed mention of Arteta in his farewell message.
I thought he was given this season, a last chance saloon, since Arteta can activate his one-year extension to protect his value.
I still believe he was in the wrong team, under the wrong manager where tactical formation does not suit him. He is a striker, more as a 2nd striker behind a centre forward cutting in from left flank.
He was never an inverted winger, hugging the sideline and swing in accurate cross on the byline with his weaker foot. During 2022/23 season, he was scoring from fun, bending shots into far corner with his right foot. The damning question why he couldn’t develop from that season, why Arteta couldn’t develop him?
Best of luck to Martinelli and hope he develops to his full potential under a new manager.
We will never know what the Future holds but a romantic like me wish to see him score 20 to 30+ league goals and lo and behold, Martinelli back in EPL 2026/27 … with Newcastle! 😀
RIP Richard O’Sullivan. A funny funny guy who I watched a lot growing up…
True I’d imagine.
Like so many fans they probably can’t see why .
I read his sale has cheesed off his teammates. Like so many fans, they probably didn’t get to say goodbye.
Morning you lot. 😜
I try not to get attached but as has been said, it’s hard not to with Gabbi. He loved the club and was forced out. Undeserved imo, especially the way it’s been done. Balance the books? Perhaps but I cannot see it, not when Vinicius or Alvarez were possibly on their way in.
Id have rather seen Madueke and Havertz sold if together they raised the £60m but hey, that’s just me..
G’day Rico.
I guess with the need to balance the books it was inevitable that Gabriel was sold. Many thought, myself included, that Madueke would be no great loss instead. Sadly he would not have brought us the millions we needed. His worth is peanuts in comparison.
So sad, so sad.
Yes Potter, maybe it’s an age thing but I don’t get as attached to players as I once did, Ben White remains my big favourite and it saddens me when some fans elsewhere belittle him as a player and what he has given to this club, but if the club sells him then so be it, the king is dead, long live the king.
My focus is on this very Sunday because all of our ‘mates’ in the media are desperate for a Chelsea win, make no mistake the haters are primed and ready to launch into another campaign of anti-Arsenal diatribes…
Morning Rico, morning Gunners, yes it’s always sad to see a player much loved by the fans depart, particularly as he was clear in his desire to stay – I mean that’s the commitment us fans want from our players isn’t it? To love the club as much as us!
It’s why we loved Carl Jenkinson, Paul Merson, David Rocastle, Thierry Henry to name a few, but football teams quickly regress if they stand still such is the competitive nature of our favourite sport. Robin Van Persie loved the club, as did Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole and they left.
Was this summer the optimum time to sell Gabby? We weren’t exactly inundated with serious interest and enquiries from elsewhere other than Turkey so what if he’d stayed? And I wanted him to stay, but two years down the line is he leaving on a Bosman and are we saying again that the club is terrible at selling?
Was selling Gabby the least painful of the options available? You know, Ethan? Myles? Gyokeres? Who knows? Arsenal have now banked about £100m in sales and loans so are we going big in January – you know when we could probably do with a fresh face?
I should think that we have all read the message in full , he did not want to go and I think a fair number of the fans didn’t want him to go either.
Kev said recently that it doesn’t pay to get attached to a player and he is right but in this case it’s hard not to .He came as a kid and in my opinion was not always used correctly but he grew and stuck to his tasks and on the surface never got out of line and caused trouble.
My fear about this is how the rest of the squad will react , he was their friend and he was pushed out . How many will now be looking over their shoulders and will the much vaunted family atmosphere be dented.
Morning Rico and all, very well put Rico he will be missed, hopefully we have someone to replace him.
Looking at the younger players we recruited our future is looking good