Mikel Arteta has admitted he is ‘very close’ to making Gabriel Martinelli a first-team regular at Arsenal following another goal on Wednesday night.
Arsenal picked up a fourth successive Premier League win by beating Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park.
Arteta withstood growing fan pressure to start the 19-year-old sensation.
But Martinelli did come on after 78 minutes in place for Thomas Partey and later fired Arsenal 2-1 ahead in stoppage time, before Nicolas Pepe added a third a minute later.
The South American attacker, a £6 million signing in 2019, has started only seven Premier League games this season, but last night was his second of the campaign, after also scoring off the bench away at Sheffield United a few weeks ago.
With there being only one game left, it’s too late in the day for Arteta to be including Martinelli in his first XI on a regular basis this season, but the Spanish coach has hinted that he’s going to use him a lot more from the start next term.
He said to Football London when asked how close he is to starting on a regular basis: “Very close and he needs to keep fighting to be closer and closer.”
This will please Arsenal fans – and so it should.
It’s worth remembering that for all the talk of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe this season, Martinelli, labelled talent of the century by Jurgen Klopp, may be an even bigger prospect and Arteta simply has to start using him more in the 2021-22 campaign.
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