Arsenal have held talks with Al-Hilal over the sale of Gabriel Martinelli, the clearest sign yet that the winger's seven years at the club are ending. The Saudi Arabian side have indicated they are prepared to go beyond the €45m, around £38.5m, that Galatasaray offered earlier in the window. Arsenal received that offer; Martinelli would not consider a move to Istanbul.
Martinelli is 25, has 12 months left on his contract and has been at the club since arriving from Ituano in 2019, a period covering almost the whole of Mikel Arteta's tenure. He has played close to 300 times for Arsenal. Last season he made 53 appearances and scored 11 goals as the club won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.
He has not been in a matchday squad since. Arteta left him out of the Community Shield win over Manchester City and then out of the squad for the opening 3-0 defeat of Coventry, a match in which Christos Tzolis, signed from Club Brugge this summer, impressed in Martinelli's position on the left. Arsenal deny that he is being frozen out and attribute the omissions to squad depth. It is understood that Arteta has spoken to Martinelli directly and explained the decision.
The sale is the strategy