"We had offers from Italian clubs, German clubs and other Premier League clubs" — but Gabriel Martinelli still ended up in Saudi Arabia. His agent Marcos Casseb told Brazilian outlet Itatiaia this week that the winger had his pick of Europe's leagues before joining Al Hilal. Not one club was named. No deal ever materialised. Draw your own conclusions.
The timeline here matters. In mid-August, credible reports said Martinelli was "not pushing to leave" Arsenal. Days later, he didn't make the bench for the Gunners' first three Premier League matches of the season. Arsenal eventually sold him for £60 million — nearly doubling the club's previous transfer record, which had stood since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Liverpool nine years ago. That figure tells you everything about who this deal worked out well for.
Arteta's call, not Martinelli's
Casseb's framing — "we think his cycle at Arsenal had ended" — conveniently obscures the fact that Mikel Arteta made that call, not Martinelli. The winger had already rejected Galatasaray earlier in the summer because he saw himself belonging in a major European league. That's a reasonable position. The Saudi Pro League is, by any objective football measure, several rungs below that standard. After seven rounds this season, one in three clubs in the 18-team division is still yet to win a game.
Arteta is chasing history on two fronts: defending a first Premier League title since 2004, and winning a Champions League Arsenal have never held. Martinelli, despite arriving at 18 and outlasting every pre-Arteta player except Bukayo Saka, wasn't part of that plan anymore. The manager tried to bring in Morgan Rogers, Bradley Barcola and Vinícius Júnior. None arrived. Martinelli still went. That's how clearly the hierarchy had shifted.
Al Hilal form isn't helping the narrative either
Since moving to Riyadh, Martinelli has started three of four matches. He scored a hat-trick in 54 minutes against bottom-half Al Taawoun in a 6-0 win on September 12th. In every other appearance, he's offered very little — no goals, no assists against Al Gharafa in the AFC Champions League Elite, and a start in a home defeat to Neom that Al Hilal had no business losing.
He's also been left out of Brazil's squad for the September-October international window. Carlo Ancelotti has used this camp to experiment, but Vinícius Jr, Raphinha, Gabriel, Marquinhos and Bruno Guimarães were all called up as normal. Martinelli wasn't a sacrifice made to protect regulars. He just wasn't selected.
Casseb says Al Hilal represent "the biggest club in Asia" and a serious project — and structurally, that's not wrong. But ambition in the boardroom doesn't change what it looks like when your client's most productive 54 minutes came against a team sitting 17th in a league where a third of the division hasn't won yet.
