Gabriel Martinelli

Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva (born 18 June 2001), commonly known as Gabriel Martinelli ([ɡabɾiˈɛw maɾˈtʃĩnɛli]) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Arsenal. Martinelli is known for his pace, positional awareness and goal scoring ability.

Born in Guarulhos, São Paulo, Martinelli began his at career at Corinthians, playing for their futsal team, before moving to Ituano in 2015. In 2019, Martinelli was the subject of a high profile move to English club Arsenal, where his impressive displays have drawn comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo and have seen him labelled as a "talent of the century" by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

At international level, Martinelli represents the Brazil U23s, but is eligible to play for Italy through his father.

Ituano

Born in Guarulhos, São Paulo, Martinelli started his career in 2010, playing for Corinthians' futsal team. After making the breakthrough in football fields, he moved to Ituano in 2015, having subsequent trials at Manchester United and Barcelona.

On 4 November 2017, Martinelli signed his first professional contract until October 2022. He made his professional debut the following 17 March, coming on as a late substitute for goalscorer Claudinho in a 2–1 away win; at the age of 16 years and nine months, he became the youngest player ever to debut for the club in the century.

Martinelli scored his first senior goal on 8 September 2018, netting his team's second in a 4–1 away routing of Taboão da Serra, for the year's Copa Paulista. Definitely promoted to the first team for the 2019 Campeonato Paulista, he scored six goals during the competition, being the club's top goalscorer as they reached the quarterfinals; highlights included a brace in a 3–0 away win against Bragantino on 15 March.

Arsenal

Martinelli was subject to interest from no fewer than 25 clubs around the world who wished to sign him, however, Martinelli put an end to speculation on 2 July 2019, when he signed a long term contract with Premier League club Arsenal in England. He scored a goal on his non-competitive debut, in a 3–0 pre-season victory against the Colorado Rapids.

2019–20 season

He made his league debut on 11 August 2019 in a 1–0 win against Newcastle United, coming on in the 84th minute as a substitute for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

On 24 September, Martinelli scored a brace on his first competitive start for the club in a 5–0 victory over Championship side Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup. Martinelli opened and closed the scoring, the first a near-post header, the second a long-range effort, both were assisted by Calum Chambers. His performance received praise from head coach Unai Emery, who said: "He's hungry to have that opportunity to help us, he is very humble, he fights. I told him to have some patience for his opportunity to do like he was doing. He did that. He deserved it."

Martinelli made his second start for Arsenal in their 4–0 home win over Standard Liege, in the UEFA Europa League, in which he scored another brace. His first goal came in the thirteenth minute following a cross from fellow summer signing Kieran Tierney, he then added his second goal of the night three minutes later by cutting on to his right foot in the penalty area and drilling the ball into the far corner. Martinelli also created his first assist of the season, by setting up Arsenal's fourth goal, which was scored by Dani Ceballos.

Martinelli kept up his fine goalscoring form, by scoring the equaliser in Arsenal's eventual 3–2 home win over Vitória Guimarães, scoring yet another header, latching onto another assist from Kieran Tierney, meaning Martinelli had now scored five goals in his first six games for Arsenal.

In the League Cup fourth round, Martinelli registered yet another brace for Arsenal's 5–5 draw with Liverpool. Martinelli also fouled Liverpool's Harvey Elliott to hand the home side a penalty, which was converted by James Milner. Martinelli also scored his penalty in the penalty shootout, which Arsenal lost 5–4. Martinelli's goals meant that he was the highest-scoring teenager for a top-five European league club, netting seven goals in just seven appearances in all competitions and also became the first player to score four times in his first four starts since Ian Wright. Martinelli's performance received praise from Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who dubbed Martinelli 'a talent of the century'.

Martinelli's performances led to him being awarded the Arsenal 'Player of the Month' award for October, receiving 75% of the total votes cast, beating out Mattéo Guendouzi and fellow summer-signing Nicolas Pépé.

On 28 November, Martinelli grabbed yet another assist, in Arsenal's 1–2 home loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, setting up captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, in what turned out to be Head Coach, Unai Emery's last match in charge of Arsenal.

On 9 December, Martinelli made his full Premier League debut in Arsenal's 1-3 win over West Ham United, scoring the Gunner's equaliser, following a low cross from Sead Kolašinac. The youngster's performance received high praise from interim head-coach Freddie Ljungberg, who said: "Martinelli did amazingly. He is like a Duracell battery, he keeps going."

Martinelli was born in Brazil, and is of Italian descent through his father. On 20 May 2019, Martinelli was called up by Brazil national team manager Tite to complete the preparatory trainings for the 2019 Copa América. In November 2019, Martinelli appeared for Brazil's under-23 side at the United International Football Festival in Spain.

As of match played 15 December 2019

Individual

• Campeonato Paulista Best Newcomer: 2019
• Campeonato Paulista Countryside Player of the Year: 2019
• Campeonato Paulista Team of the Year: 2019