Arsenal should be rubbing their hands after the latest Gabriel Martinelli development

Gabriel Martinelli’s time at Arsenal could soon be coming to an end.

The Gunners have been actively looking to sell the Brazilian and looked to have had a suitor in Galatasaray.

However, Martinelli had no interest in joining the Turkish league.

There’s been interest from Serie A, which the player would be more open to, but the right offer simply hasn’t materialised.

But now another option could potentially open up.

Fabrizio Romano has reported that Martinelli is included on Al Hilal’s three-man shortlist of winger targets.

The Saudi club are actively looking to make a marquee wide attacking signing, and Martinelli is firmly in their thinking.

For Arsenal, this news should be very welcome indeed.

Arsenal should be salivating over Al-Hilal’s interest in Gabriel Martinelli

As well as Martinelli, Al-Hilal are also considering a move for Pedro Neto.

The Saudi club were said to be willing to pay up to £100million for the Portuguese winger, who has also been linked with Arsenal this summer.

Chelsea would obviously not get that much for Neto from a Premier League club or a European side, showing just how inflated the market can be from Saudi.

Could Arsenal extract a similar fee for Martinelli, who’s one year younger and just won the Premier League?

Ben Jacobs has previously reported that Al Nassr were ready to pay €85million for Martinelli as recently as last year.

If Al Hilal make Martinelli their priority, Arsenal could be looking at a fee that significantly exceeds anything a European club has been willing to offer.

Curiously, Arsenal are yet to benefit from such deals, and haven’t been able to offload any of their players to Saudi since the league’s boom.

Getting big money for Martinelli at this stage of the window would be hugely beneficial to their hopes of landing a top attacker before the window ends.

If they can shift him, as well as Gabriel Jesus, Reiss Nelson and Fabio Vieira, it could open up a move for someone like Kenan Yildiz or Victor Osimhen.

But at 25, Martinelli would understandably prefer a move to a top European league. He is, on paper, in the prime years of his career.

The Saudi Pro League, for all its financial appeal, is not exactly where a player of his age and ambition wants to be. And you can’t blame him for that.

But if the offer is big enough, and Al Hilal’s proposals tend to be, it may be difficult to turn down.