Gabriel Martinelli has made an immediate return to Arsenal following his successful Olympic Games with Brazil, rejoining training this week.

Though he didn’t feature in the final, Gabriel Martinelli won gold with Brazil at the Olympics games last week, having scored a penalty in the semi-final shootout against Mexico to help his country reach the final in the first place.

Now that the tournament is done, many were expecting Martinelli to begin his holiday and have an extended absence from Arsenal. Yet the the young forward was back in training at London Colney on Monday.

This contrasts with other players like Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka, and Lucas Torreira, who all had a few weeks between their international tournaments and their Arsenal returns. The reason why is the timing of the Olympics, versus the Euros or Copa America.

The players that featured in the Euros or Copa America went straight from their participation with Arsenal to link up with their countries for the summer tournaments, with no time for a break in between. They therefore needed some time off afterwards.

Initially, the same was true for the Brazil Olympic team, who went straight into a couple of friendlies in the June international break, but they then had a long stretch without matches before reconvening ahead of the Olympics.

Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes both took time off for their holidays during that stretch. As a result, they’re free to return to Arsenal immediately.

There’s no guarantees Martinelli will be ready for involvement on Friday, as he’s only now getting in his first training sessions with the squad. Gabriel will almost certainly be unavailable due to injury. But at least they’re both back and approaching returns to the pitch for Arsenal.