Gabriel Martinelli has revealed that Emiliano Martinez played a pivotal role in his adaptation at Arsenal.
The Gunners brought the Brazilian youngster to North London as a teenager for a bargain fee of £6 million in the summer of 2019, during Unai Emery’s reign.
Martinelli was only 18 at the time and to be halfway across the world – 8.8 thousand kilometres away – from your family can be a daunting prospect at such a young age.
But the Arsenal gem, labelled talent of the century by Jurgen Klopp last season, seems to have enjoyed a very smooth transition to life in England nonetheless – and he credits the club’s former goalkeeper in helping with that.
Martinez, who speaks fluent Portuguese, was sold by Arsenal for £20 million to Aston Villa during the summer but, while he was at London Colney, Martinelli has revealed to The Daily Mail that the Argentina international was ‘always by my side’ during his time at the club.
He said: “Emi was always by my side. Telling me what the coaches were saying. He was always helping me.”
Since Martinelli has joined, Arsenal bolstered their Brazilian contingent even more and David Luiz, Willian and Gabriel Magalhaes have all since signed up for Edu’s project at the Emirates Stadium.
He added: “Also, me and centre back Gabriel Magalhaes have the support of David Luiz and Willian, part of a great Brazilian generation.”
Martinelli spent most of 2020 out injured but he’s been a revelation since coming back into Mikel Arteta’s side.
And if he starts in tonight’s third-round FA Cup tie against Newcastle United, it’s likely that he’ll make a big impression against the Magpies too.
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