Gabriel Martinelli thanked the chefs, the doormen, the cleaning staff, and every single teammate from his six years at Arsenal. He did not thank Mikel Arteta. That omission was not an accident.
The 25-year-old completed his £60 million move to Al-Hilal on Thursday, ending a stint that began in 2019 when he arrived as a teenage unknown from Ituano. What should have been a warm sendoff was instead a window into a relationship that clearly broke down well before the transfer went through.
His farewell message was genuinely moving in parts — "I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, so hard to put 7 years into words" — but the architecture of it was pointed. Managers get mentioned in these posts. Coaches get credited. Arteta's name was nowhere.
How it got to this point
Ian Wright had already laid out exactly how uncomfortable the situation had become, speaking after Arsenal's season opener against Coventry City. "Not being in the squad tonight, not being spoken to, doesn't know what's going on" — that's how Wright described Martinelli's final weeks at the club. Left out of the Community Shield squad. Left out entirely. No clarity on his future despite having a year left on his deal.
Wright wasn't calling Martinelli irreplaceable. He was making a simpler point: the player gave everything for the shirt and deserved to be treated like a person on the way out, not a line item to be cleared off a spreadsheet.
Arteta's decision to prioritise Christos Tzolis and Ebere Eze over Martinelli is a football call he's entitled to make. But the manner of it — that's where Wright's discomfort lands, and it's hard to argue with him.
What this means for Arsenal's attack
Martinelli's exit, combined with the arrivals of Tzolis and the rumoured pursuit of higher-profile targets, tells you where Arteta thinks his squad is heading. The left side is being rebuilt around players he trusts in his system. Whether that bet pays off will define a significant portion of Arsenal's title credentials this season — a squad in transition on the flank carries risk, and the early betting on Arsenal suggests punters are watching this rebuild with some caution.
For Martinelli, Al-Hilal and the Saudi Pro League represent a different kind of career chapter at 25 — earlier than most would have predicted. He arrived at Arsenal as a nobody and leaves having scored in north London derbies and Champions League nights. That's not nothing.
He just didn't get the goodbye that reflected it. And he made sure everyone noticed.
