Arsenal are actively trying to sell £45m player but haven’t even told him
Arsenal still have plenty of work to do with outgoings before the window closes.
Fabio Vieira and Reiss Nelson were both absent from the Community Shield squad, unsurprisingly, given Vieira’s stalled move to Hamburg and West Ham’s interest in Nelson.
More telling, however, was the absence of Gabriel Jesus, Ethan Nwaneri and Gabriel Martinelli.
None of them made the bench against Manchester City, and that felt like a clear message from Mikel Arteta.
Jesus has been available all summer, with Napoli the most serious suitor, while Nwaneri’s situation is more complicated.
The 19-year-old could still be loaned out but a sale would represent pure profit, which is particularly beneficial for navigating PCR.
But the most notable outgoing would involve Martinelli, who has been at Arsenal for seven years.
Arsenal have not told Gabriel Martinelli they want to sell him
Arsenal are actively seeking to sell the Brazilian and recently received a €45m offer from Galatasaray.
But according to The Athletic, Martinelli himself has not been directly told by the club that they want to sell him.
He has essentially found out through intermediaries that Arsenal were shopping him around, rather than a face-to-face meeting with the club itself.
His camp have since made clear he has no interest in Turkey and would only consider leaving for a club that matches his ambition.
Martinelli has had a disappointing couple of seasons, and his tally of one Premier League goal last season is obviously not good enough.
But he doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.
The Myles Lewis-Skelly situation suggests this is a pattern
Despite Martinelli’s struggles, he still scored six Champions League goals last season — no Arsenal player scored more.
And he was on the pitch when they won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years, a moment he described on social media as being part of a “family.”
He has given everything to this club. It’s poor form from Arsenal, and the Myles Lewis-Skelly situation has echoes of the same sort of thing.
Reports emerged that Lewis-Skelly had been offered to Chelsea and Manchester United by intermediaries — again, without any clear communication to the player himself about where he stood.
Football is a ruthless business. Of course it is. And there’s nothing wrong with deciding to sell Martinelli if the right offer comes in.
That’s especially true for a club that has just won the league and is aiming to compete on all fronts.
But a player who has played 278 times for the club deserves a direct conversation, at the very least.
