As Arsenal and Gabriel Martinelli work out the details of a new contract, the Brazilian has been linked with a number of clubs, including Chelsea and Real Madrid, with former Arsenal man, William Gallas projecting his own fears on to him.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 09: Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal celebrates with teammates after scoring their team's first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on October 09, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 09: Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal celebrates with teammates after scoring their team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on October 09, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

This season, people outside of Arsenal finally started to notice Gabriel Martinelli as the youngster took his game up another notch.

Arriving at the club in 2019 as ‘one for the future’ he was thrown straight in and has never looked out of place.

A new contract quickly followed in 2020, as did a serious knee injury.

That, thankfully, is a thing of the past.

Martinelli’s performances since his return more than warrant a new deal which is likely to see his wages rise to around £140kpw.

Even though Martinelli has consistently said he wants to remain with Arsenal, that hasn’t stopped other clubs being linked with him by the media.

One of them is apparently Real Madrid.

Initially my attention was caught by a headline with William Gallas stating that he didn’t believe that Martinelli was good enough for Real Madrid, ‘yet’ but it was comments he made about what’s in Martinelli’s head that drew me in further and why you’re now reading this.

It seems Gallas gave his quotes to a casino company, who then sent them out to get links back to their site. You can see how this works on Goal, where I first came across them, and where you can also read all of Gallas’s quote.

Arsenal footballer William Gallas shouts at his team during their Premiership match against Blackburn at the Emirates Stadium in North London, England, on February 11, 2008. (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal footballer William Gallas shouts at his team during their Premiership match against Blackburn at the Emirates Stadium in North London, England, on February 11, 2008. (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)

“I think Arsenal have to get that deal with Martinelli signed as quickly as possible,” Gallas said, showing cutting insight.

“I’m sure he’s hearing so many things about him, like Real Madrid being interested. Sometimes the player can be confused,” he speculated.

“At the moment, I think he’s playing well and Arsenal have to close that deal as soon as possible so he feels better in his mind.”

Now, you might be wondering, ‘how does William Gallas know what is going on in Gabriel Martinelli’s mind?’

The answer to that question is ‘he doesn’t’.

William Gallas knows what is going on in William Gallas’s head. Gallas is telling us all that in the same situation, he imagines that he would be confused.

If he had any interest in having a better idea of what is going on in Martinelli’s head, he could have read any one of a number of interviews Martinelli has given about the subject.