Gabriel Martinelli could feature for Brazil in their squad for this summer’s Olympic games in Tokyo, according to football.london.
The Gunners star has decided to play for the South American side instead of Italy at international level in a decision that could see him miss the start of next season.
Should Brazil make it all the way to the final this summer, the 19-year-old would be certain to miss the start of the next Premier League campaign.
Can Arsenal win the Europa League?
Yes
No
If you talked about how important the former Ituano man was to the Gunners a year ago, the answer would be extremely. However, fast forward to March 2021 and Martinelli’s impact within the first team has dwindled down to almost nothing.
The Brazilian almost never features for the north London outfit, having failed to make an impact since his return from a long-term hamstring injury back in December.
His recent cameos against Olympiacos and West Ham United has been his only minutes of football in well over a month since the first leg of the last-32 tie versus Benfica.
You’d feel like more time away from the senior set-up will only further hamper the star’s ability to make a breakthrough into Mikel Arteta’s thinking. The winger has fallen down the pecking order behind the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pepe and Willian, who are all seemingly first and second-choices for the left and right-wings.
It seems almost ages ago since Jurgen Klopp labelled the youngster the ‘talent of the century‘ after the sides met in a stunning Carabao Cup match. However, since then it’s been pretty much downhill for the ace, who has a mountain to climb if he is to reach the peaks of his early Arsenal career.
In other news, one journalist has claimed that Mikel Arteta could be under pressure.
