Arsenal are unwilling to let Gabriel Martinelli miss club games for international duty.
The Brazilian has been called by his country’s U23 side to feature in the Olympic qualifiers next month.
If Martinelli were to go, he would miss nearly three weeks worth of games in January and will return exhausted. He will have to attend 7 games within that short time period, seriously putting a stress on his energy levels when he returns to North London.
This is a huge opportunity for Martinelli, who has impressed many in his debut season in England. The versatile attacker scored 7 goals in his first 4 starts for Arsenal and has recorded 8 goals in 17 total appearances across all competitions.
At only 18, he seems to have broken into the Arsenal starting lineup. Even Jurgen Klopp took notice of the Brazilian wonderkid and called him the “talent of the century”. It is only time before he impresses Mikel Arteta as well but the timing is tricky.
Arsenal have the option to deny Martinelli a leave since the tournament schedule falls out of FIFA’s calender. The Gunners might be looking to exercise that right, given how difficult a position they are in currently. Mikel Arteta has been tasked with turning around Arsenal’s season after the team collected only 24 points in 19 Premier League games.
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