Ian Wright: Martinelli Deserves More Respect Amid Arsenal Exit Talks

Ian Wright has accused Arsenal of mishandling Gabriel Martinelli and says the Brazilian “deserves more respect” as the club listens to offers for the winger.

Martinelli played 53 times in all competitions last season, scored 11 goals and helped Arsenal over the line to a Premier League title. A core part of Mikel Arteta’s project, a fan favourite, a champion.

Now he is nowhere to be seen.

From title winner to watching on

The 25-year-old was left out of the squad entirely for Arsenal’s league opener on Friday, a 3-0 win over Coventry. He had already been omitted from the Community Shield victory against Manchester City the previous weekend.

Arsenal insist this is about competition, not exile. But Wright is not buying the way it looks.

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

A symbol of the Arteta era on the brink

Martinelli arrived from Ituano in 2019 as a raw teenager and grew alongside Arteta’s tenure, evolving from prospect to regular starter on the left. His energy, pressing and direct running became hallmarks of Arsenal’s front line.

Now, as the club tries to turn one title into an era of dominance, he looks like one of the first big names to be sacrificed.

Inside the club, the message is different. Arsenal deny that Martinelli is being frozen out and point to the sheer depth in attacking areas. New signing Christos Tzolis impressed on the left wing against Coventry, stepping straight into Martinelli’s usual territory.

The club also pushed hard to sign Vinicius Jr this summer before the Brazil star chose to renew with Real Madrid. That pursuit said plenty about Arsenal’s ambitions on the left flank.

Wright spelt out what that means for a player like Martinelli.

“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],’” he 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 ‘sellable asset’ dilemma

Behind the emotion sits a hard financial call. Arsenal want at least one major sale before the window closes and have made it clear Martinelli is available.

Inside the squad, he is viewed as one of the club’s most valuable assets on the market, alongside Gabriel Jesus and Fabio Vieira. Proven in the Premier League, still in his mid-20s, under a long contract: he ticks every box for a big fee.

Martinelli has already rejected a move to Galatasaray. If he leaves the Emirates Stadium, his camp is understood to be targeting a top European club rather than a step down in profile.

Arteta’s cold reality

Arteta, speaking before the Coventry game, did not name Martinelli but did not hide from the possibility of established players being moved on.

“It’s a really tough moment, but you need to face that reality,” he said.

“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.”

Respect, honesty, admiration. Wright’s complaint is that, for Martinelli, the way this is playing out on the pitch and on the teamsheet does not yet look like that.

If Arsenal do cash in on one of the faces of their title-winning side, the fee will help shape their future. The manner of his exit may say even more about what kind of club they want to be.