Gabriel Martinelli after scoring his first goal for Arsenal on his friendly debut against Colorado Rapids (Photo via Instagram / ga_martinelli01)

Arsenal Gossip

Report: Gabriel Martinelli won’t be loaned this season – Arsenal have a first-team integration plan

Jul 28, 2019

Arsenal are planning to integrate Gabriel Martinelli slowly over the next six months, and he won’t be loaned out this season.

D kULsuVUAA yXT — Gabriel Martinelli (Photo via Twitter / Arsenal)

Brazilian outlet UOL report that Martinelli has a verbal agreement with Arsenal that he will stay with the club this season to work under Unai Emery, rather than going on loan.

To help the player adjust, Arsenal are even paying for Martinelli’s father Joao Carlos to stay in a hotel in London for the time being. Some other members of the family have also made the trip, though they don’t have European citizenship, so they may not be able to stay permanently.

UOL suggest Martinelli should get chances in the League Cup, Europa League and FA Cup this season, though that part of the article appears to be just speculation.

The young Brazilian has certainly made a positive start to pre-season. In his three appearances so far, Martinelli has scored against Colorado, fired inches wide after a blistering run against Fiorentina and then scored a marginally offside goal against Lyon.

If you can feel justifiably disappointed not to have three goals from your first 109 minutes on the pitch for Arsenal, you can’t be doing too badly. Now it’s just about putting his next chance away and then doing the same when the competitive opportunities come.