Gabriel Martinelli supported by Arsenal stars after clear Mikel Arteta message and transfer fury
Gabriel Martinelli has received some support from his ex-Arsenal teammates after a superb performance for Al-Hilal(Image: (Photo by Abdullah Ahmed/Getty Images))
Gabriel Magalhaes and Bruno Guimaraes are among the Arsenal stars to have liked Gabriel Martinelli's Instagram post after his Al-Hilal hat-trick. The Brazilian made a £60million move to the Saudi Pro League in late August and has already made a big impact.
Prior to his latest outing, Martinelli had two appearances without any luck in front of goal but that changed on Saturday evening. He scored two close-range goals in the first half and grabbed his third just after the interval with Al-Hilal going on to beat Al-Taawoun 6-0.
Martinelli later celebrated the achievement with his 4.9milllion Instagram followers. He captioned a post: "Off the mark with a hat-trick [blue heart emoji]. A great performance from the boys and a big win on the road."
Nearly 4,000 comments were made on the post with just under 150,000 likes. Brazil international teammates Guimaraes and Gabriel were among those showing their support alongside Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Noni Madueke.
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Fellow former Arsenal players Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mohamed Elneny, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus also liked the post. Ian Wright, who was particularly critical of the club's treatment of Martinelli, also commented a heart emoji.
There was huge speculation surrounding Martinelli's future at the start of the season as he was omitted from the first two matchday squads. At the time, Wright revealed he was far from happy about how he was being treated.
He said: "With respect to Martinelli and the way he's being treated at the moment, it really makes me uncomfortable.
"He always gives 100 per cent, we're not saying he's the greatest, but he's come up with some big moments for Arsenal in big games, and the way he's being treated at the end here – I know they might want him out and there's a lot of guys saying it's time for him to move on, but there's ways of doing that should suit him as well."
Mikel Arteta was asked about that supposed treatment and comments from Gabriel Jesus about being in the dark over his future before joining Barcelona.
Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli left Arsenal in the summer transfer window
He said: "Very surprised, to be fair, especially because with Gabi [Jesus] I had an individual talk in the dressing room. I don't know what words were said, it is fine.
"The words we used for each other, it was all about gratitude. I don't know, it is OK. Sometimes I understand when you have to deliver bad news or news that people don't expect, those things [you can] react [to]."
Very different comments from Arteta went particularly viral on Saturday evening after Arsenal's 2-0 win away at Sunderland. The outcome could have been very different, however, with the hosts awarded a controversial penalty that was saved by David Raya.
When asked about the decision, Arteta told TNT Sports : "I'm so upset, it is unacceptable at this level, unacceptable. It can change the course of the season. I've seen it 10 times to make sure and I said 'it is not possible it is penalty'. It is a judo roll. That's what it is.
"This cannot happen. In my view. I have been involved in football for 27/28 years. It's not a penalty in any game, in any game, in any context in any league."
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