Morning all. Let’s start today with a goodbye, after Gabriel Martinelli’s move to Al Hilal was confirmed yesterday. The fee, a record €70m, means he becomes our most expensive sale ever, although I’m quite sure that’s one he probably never dreamed of having under his name – particularly to a club in the Saudi Arabian league. He arrived from the Brazilian fourth division aged 18, and was initially earmarked for an Academy role and progression. Very quickly though, Arsenal realised what they had, and he made his Premier League debut in August, coming on as a sub in a 1-0 win away to Newcastle. That season, he made 26 appearances in all competitions, scoring 10 goals and providing 3 assists. He leaves with 278 appearances for the club, with 62 goals and 36 assists to his name. Very respectable numbers, but probably not quite the level of output we had dreamed of from him. The 15 goal season in the Premier League campaign in 2022-23 set a bar he never quite reached again, particularly in that competition, but in subsequent seasons his game-time was shared out with Leandro Trossard. The manager had two very good options on that left-hand side, and used them both. I think it’s fair to say that some elements of his game felt like they plateaued a little. You could ask if that was down to him or, perhaps if we could all see that, you might question the coaching and development a little, but one thing you always got from Gabriel Martinelli was full commitment to his job on the pitch. Mikel Arteta’s preference for two-way wingers is obvious. He wants you to attack and to deliver end product in the final third, but by god he wants you to be the first line of defence too. If you have to bust a gut to cover your full back, you had better do that, and I don’t think we give enough credit to those players for how physically demanding that is (and how it might even impact your ability to produce up the other end after you’ve made an 80 yard sprint to prevent an overlapping fullback put in a cross). I don’t think I’ve ever once seen Martinelli shirk that aspect of his job, and I think even if there was frustration with him at times, the vast majority of Arsenal fans fully respected his workrate and efforts every time he pulled on the shirt. He also gave us some great goals and magic moments. In Bilbao last season in the Champions League, he scored an important goal, and Riccardo Calafiori lifted him up and pointed to the name on his shirt as the Arsenal fans sang his song lustily in the stands for ages afterwards. It helps that Bella Ciao is a bit of a banger anyway, but it also spoke to the affection we had towards the player. What else? The goal away in the Bernebeu. The breakaway goal against Chelsea (slip, whooops!), and the one at Aston Villa where Emi Martinez went up for a corner, Unai Emery went berserk because of that, and Martinelli celebrated with his arms in the air before he’d even rolled the ball home. Big goals against Liverpool and Man City as we tipped the balance of power our way after being in their shadows for so long. And the goal against Man City last season. He was criticised for scoring just once in the Premier League in our title winning campaign, but what a goal it was, and what an important goal it was too. How might that early season momentum have changed without that fantastic pass from Eberechi Eze, and Martinelli’s lightning movement and superb finish? In a message on his Instagram, he said goodbye: I thought I would stay forever. To the fans, thank you for everything. Since my first day, you made me feel at home. Every time I stepped on the pitch, despite everything, I tried to give everything I had for this shirt. To Arsenal, thank you for believing in me and giving me the chance to show myself to the world. It has been a long journey, too much history and now it has come to an end. I’m writing this with tears in my eyes, so hard to put 7 years into words. From 35 to 11. Once a Gunner, Always a Gunner. I know there’s a danger of reading too much into social media posts, but I thought it was notable that there wasn’t a single mention or picture of Mikel Arteta, despite the fact the two have shared so much over those seven years. I know football is a ruthless business, one minute you’re flavour of the month, the next you’re expendable. Players know that (“That’s what the money is for!”) but I still think it’s sad that it ended up with some obvious recrimination. I think he deserved better from certain people at the club when it came to his departure, and for me at least, it leaves a bit of a sour taste. Your mileage may vary, of course, but when someone like Ian Wright speaks out publicly the way he did a few weeks ago, it tells you something about how all this went down. There isn’t a player in the world who doesn’t frustrate fans, whose standards are always exacting. But fundamentally fans connect with players who they can see love the club, who pull on that shirt and know what it means to represent, and Gabriel Martinelli was one of those from his very first appearance. You know when it’s not authentic, in his case it really, really was. He gave 100% every single time, scored some brilliant goals for Arsenal and created some magic moments. You knew he loved Arsenal, and it was reciprocated. He leaves as a champion, and he absolutely deserved that. Good luck Gabi. — Right, that’s it for today. For some extra reading, Tim’s column focuses on improving the attack with what we have after the window closed without another arrival. There’s an Arsecast below if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, and we’ll look ahead to Chelsea – and more – a bit later on in our Patreon preview podcast. For now, have a good Friday folks. Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS The post Goodbye to Little Gabi appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.