Gabriel Martinelli is blossoming into a star for Arsenal

The 18-year old has been spectacular this year, scoring seven goals in seven appearances for the Gunners

When Arsenal signed Brazilian striker Gabriel Martinelli in the summer for around 6 million euros from Ituano in Brazil, it went under the radar after the North Londoners spent 72 million euros on former Lille standout Nicolas Pepe.

Not many people knew much about Martinelli, other than the fact that he was extremely young. After seven matches for Unai Emery’s side, the youngster is becoming a household name at the Emirates.

Although he’s featured in just three Premier League matches as a substitute, he’s been shining on the League Cup and Europa League stage. Through two Carabao Cup fixtures, Martinelli has been lethal in the final third, scoring twice against Nottingham Forest in a third-round tie then scored a brace against Liverpool in a dramatic PK loss on Wednesday night where each team scored five goals in 90 minutes of play.

His pace and strength for an 18-year old is extremely impressive and as you can see in the video below, Martinelli is constantly creating havoc in the final third. He has a natural sense of where to be in order to put the ball in the back of the net and that’s just simply a talent that can’t be taught.

Both of these goals against Liverpool were prototypical striker goals. Maitland-Niles beat Origi on the right flank near the corner of the 18-yard box, whipped in a low cross that deflected off a Liverpool defender then off the Reds keeper. Martinelli anticipated the rebound off the keeper and snuck in and hammered it home.

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Then on his second tally, Saka found some space on the left flank. Martinelli again anticipated that his teammate was going to put in a quality cross, which he did, and the Brazilian one-timed in into the net.

Making a mark in Europe

According to Opta, Martinelli is the leading scorer amongst all teenagers across Europe’s top five leagues with seven goals, sitting ahead of players like Jadon Sancho and Joao Felix, who have four and three goals respectively. Pretty exclusive company to say the least.

He also scored a double and tallied an assist in a Europa League clash against Standard Liege back in early October, then bagged another goal against Vitoria last week in another European fixture. The fact that he’s came over to a big club like Arsenal and immediately contributed at such a high level is a huge positive for his future. along with Bukayo Saka, these two have the potential to blossom into absolute stars for the Gunners.

The amount of first-team football he’s played in his career, even in Brazil, is next to nothing. So to take that into consideration and see how much promise this young player has, given the lack of experience he carries, is very compelling.

Unai Emery has a legitimate striker on his hands for many years to come.