Arenal will announce the signing of Gabriel Martinelli in June when the player turns 18 and he is able to complete his signing to a European club.
According to Yahoo in Brazil, Gabriel Martinelli will join Arsenal’s u23s initially, however, the player will be given a date that he is expected to be promoted to the first team.
With 12 goals and three assists in 18 games, Gabriel Martinelli has just been named ‘best hope’ of the Paulista Regional Championship and it looks like he will be an Arsenal player next season.
Brazilian outlet UOL reported that Arsenal have an agreement to sign the 17-year-old for an undisclosed fee this summer. Martinelli drew interest from Brazilian clubs like Flamengo, Cruzeiro, Santos and more, but has decided to move to the Premier League instead.
All that remains is for Martinelli to receive his Italian passport. After that, it’s expected he’ll be officially announced as an Arsenal player in June when he turns 18, according to the report. Ituano tried to hold onto a portion of Martinelli’s economic rights, but the Gunners stood firm against that.
The player could have opted to sign for Manchester United after visiting them and meeting Paul Pogba but it seems like Arsenal have won the race for his signature and he will be the first signing of the summer for Unai Emery.
⭐️| Gabriel Martinelli and Paul Pogba. Gabriel was invited to train with Manchester United and Barcelona in the last few years. pic.twitter.com/CTtBKywOTA
— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) March 29, 2019
According to reports, Unai Emery wants to bring in four players and will ship out up to 13.