Mikel Arteta_v4
Gabriel Martinelli Transfer News: Arsenal are on the brink of selling Gabriel Martinelli to Saudi Pro League giants Al-Hilal in a deal that would shatter their own record for a player sale. The Evening Standard reports the transfer fee sits between £50 million and £60 million, which would comfortably eclipse the £35 million Arsenal received for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain back in 2017.
The 25-year-old Brazilian winger, who has been at the club since 2019, has reportedly been offered a contract worth around €20 million per year through to 2030 by the Saudi side. His omission from Arsenal’s opening 2026/27 matchday squad against Coventry City made the direction of travel clear enough. A departure that, just two seasons ago, would have seemed unthinkable is now effectively done.
Gabriel Martinelli Transfer News: An honest verdict on Arsenal’s ruthless decision
Sentimentality has no place here. Strip it back, and this deal is financially brilliant for Arsenal, even if it stings emotionally.
Martinelli arrived from Brazilian third-tier club Ituano for £6 million in 2019. Extracting anywhere between £50 million and £60 million from Al-Hilal isn’t just good business; it’s exceptional asset management. The accounting profit alone gives Arsenal the breathing room to pursue targets like Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez without falling foul of Profit and Sustainability Rules. Ian Wright publicly pushed back against the sale, and the fanbase has reacted with predictable frustration, but the numbers carry more weight than the nostalgia.
His 2025/26 campaign tells two very different stories depending on which competition you look at. In the Champions League, he was electric with six goals in 14 appearances, becoming the first Arsenal player ever to score in five consecutive Champions League matches.
He was their best European outlet. In the Premier League? One goal and four assists across 30 appearances, with 19 of those coming off the bench. His tendency to hug the touchline and go one-dimensional against low-block defences became a recurring problem Arteta couldn’t work around.
The summer arrival of Christos Tzolis for £34 million signals exactly where Arteta wants to go. His system increasingly demands forwards who rotate into half-spaces, press with intelligence, and offer multiple outputs. Martinelli, brilliant, direct, explosive, doesn’t fit that profile anymore. Keeping him on £180,000 a week as a squad fringe option would have been poor squad management.
Read: Arsenal and Liverpool were ready for transfer battle to sign 21-year old winger
Arsenal are selling a World Cup footballer, a club legend in the making, at precisely the moment his domestic numbers plateau. That’s not heartless. That’s exactly how elite clubs stay elite.