Rob Holding has praised the tenacity of Gabriel Martinelli claiming the 18-year-old striker is a nightmare for defenders.
The summer arrival from Brazilian side Ituano has made a strong first impression at the Emirates netting a pair of braces in starts against Nottingham Forest and Standard Liege and making three cameos off the bench in the Premier League.
Martinelli will be hoping for more game time in the Europa League tomorrow evening when the Gunners host Portuguese side Vitoria.
He certainly has the backing of Holding, who said: “He’s come in and settled really well. In training every day, he works hard. He puts you under pressure constantly and never stops running, which as a centre half is a nightmare. You want a striker that will sort of give up on you, but he never gives up.
“His finishing has been unbelievable, even with his head. He’s only a small guy but the headed goals he’s scored in the Forest game and the Standard Liege game have been incredible goals, to be fair to him.”
Holding also revealed that Emi Martinez, one of the squad’s elder statesmen, has taken his fellow South American under his wing.
“I think he’s really close with Emi Martinez,” revealed the defender. “He spends a lot of time with him and I think he’s translating for him as he picks up English.
“In yoga, he is trying to learn as much English as he can. It’s only a small group of five or six of us, so he’s learning English as he goes along and he’s making an effort, which is important.”
This is good to hear and I don’t think anyone expected so much from Martinelli so soon. Let’s hope he can keep it up.
We are lucky to have several players that I’m sure most of our back line would say are nightmares for defenders – Martinelli, Auba, Laca, Mustafi and Xhaka amongst them.
Though lucky is probably the wrong word for the last two…
Not lucky on Mustafi or Xhaka C.B , they are lucky to be allowed to underperform for us and get paid well. Get Martinelli in and give him a run along with Ceballos. Also get our 2 full backs in soon coz Chambers and Kolasinac and even Maitland Niles are not good enough
I actually think Chambers has been getting better, I think given a decent run he’d be competing with Bellerin. Agree with the rest.
I don’t think he meant our defenders…
Cracked me up in a bittersweet manner. Still funny.
Honestly, when he signed I expected more Wellington Silva than Eduardo Silva but it’s so great to see him amongst the goals already.
To think where he’s come from, it’s even more exceptional. New language, new continent, new surroundings. And only 18? Fair play son.
Or, if an 18 year old kid is giving you trouble, then maybe you’re not that good at defending.
Kylian Mbappe
lol
Not to exaggerate but Messi troubled vidic and ferdinand, ramos and helguera etc when he was only 18
Get your coat!
I don’t want this guy to get overhyped because then as soon as he has an ‘off’ day the fans will turn on him
As if he is ever going to have an off day
Everytime I hear something exciting about a youngster and get hyped up, I remember arsenal is being managed by that bum emery and get depressed. Hopefully this kid and the remaining youngsters can blitz arsenal to win the europa league as its the only way arsenal can make the champions league if the manager doesn’t change
I really dont agree with emery but if there’s one thing positive about him, it’s that the youngsters are getting quite a few chances.
I credit the board with the increase in use of our young players. Removing the safety net of Iwobi and Miki, both of whom Emery persisted with last season, has meant more minutes for youth. I’d actually say that Emery has gone backwards in this regard: last season he used Guendouzi alot, which was actually courageous, even if not very risky as Matteo is quite obviously a huge prospect and the manager always has more leeway at the start of his tenure; however we have recently seen Saka pushed back to what looked like DM and a reluctance to use… Read more »
Hahaha, YOU CREDIT THE BOARD WITH PICKING THE LINEUP, HAHA, YOU ARE FUNNY. EMERY IS DOING A GREAT JOB, HIS RECRUITMENT IS PERFECT AND HIS VISION FOR YOUTH IS EXCELLENT. SALIBA,TIERNEY,TORREIRA,PEPE,MATTEO,MARTINELLI, THIS CAN WIN ANY TITLE IN TWO YEARS.SUPPORT EMERY WITH THE ENERGY YOU WASTE FIGHTING HIM. HE IS GOING NO WHERE AND HE WILL NOT DO WHAT FANS THINK IS RIGHT.
YOU LIKE THE PRODUCT BUT ABUSE THE PROCESS, HAHAHA! YOU ARE FUNNY!
He doesn’t deserve Emery
What a silly comment as Emery is the manager giving him his chances to play!
So is our midfield.
Good on them for doing yoga
Doing yoga, good on them for.
Oh wait.
ILLOL (I Literally LOL’d)
To be fair his performances so far should have earnt him a start ahead of Pepe or Saka. Not a criticism of either but he’s done well in his cameos, those too haven’t set the world on fire. Saka will be some player, a bit lightweight at the minute. Pepe hopefully will settle, been glimpses of his talent, a goal will hopefully boost his confidence. Needs to spend some extra time on the training ground using his right foot, only real criticism. 72m should buy you a player who can use both feet, at least slightly. Also shouldn’t be taking… Read more »
“also shouldn’t be taking free kicks” wow this comment didn’t age well
I think the yoga’s working
I’m as excited about the kid as I was with Vela. I hope this turns out better
Good luck to both Holding and Martinelli
But…Emery gives us nightmares too.
Boring and childish comment.
You need to do a better job sucking up.
You are wonderful coach but look at the likes of Liverpool and Manchester city they never go into a game leaving there best like of attackers, midfielders and defenders on the bench at all they they ensure that they are in a position to win any matches they played you never had the players you have now at your disposal last year and now you do why not play them in there right position the best defensive midfielder is on the bench why not play him in the middle before our back 3 and you must have offensive creative midfielders… Read more »
Martinelli is a short guy?! Looked rather tall to me. Granted, they’re all dwarves next to Rob.
Anyone else notice that mad skill he does when on the wing on the side of the box with a rb in front of him he kind of has some mad close control that gets past the defender. He did it like 3 times successfully vs Standard Liege and actually pulled it off last weekend vs Sheffield when he came on. I loved Theo the whole of his arsenal career despite his shortcomings in some departments and feel he gets overlooked -he did a lot good for us and scored 100 goals -But he definitely couldn’t do that skill lol… Read more »
How can Martinez be translating for Martinelli? Does he speak Portuguese, or maybe Martinelli speaks Spanish?