Arsenal: What even is the next Gabriel Martinelli?

Arsenal are supposedly inching closer to “the next” Gabriel Martinelli. But what does that even mean when we don’t know what Martinelli is yet?

Arguably the only positive from the Arsenal season thus far is the presence of their youth. So many young players who all seem to be on the cusp of forcing senior club members out of the team altogether, and none have greater potential than Gabriel Martinelli, the signing of the summer.

Martinelli has been on a ridiculous streak of scoring goals, and they haven’t been cheap goals either. They’ve been legitimate, conclusive goals that the best strikers out there would sometimes struggle with.

Martinelli has been a bigger part of the first team picture too, the more that he has stepped up in midweek competitions, though we can’t be sure we even know what his future holds for both himself, and for us as a team.

Unai Emery has explicitly said that Martinelli won’t be played as a striker, which is odd, given how easily he scores goal and how often he plays there.

Almost exclusively, in fact.

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So he’s a winger then, but even so, we don’t know what that future looks like, what side, with who, what his primary facets will be as an attacker. We can’t know until we see more of him, which, while close, isn’t going to be a quick process.

In step the rumors that the Gunners are already lining up “the next” Gabriel Martinelli. It’s a young man (17-years-old) named Reinier Jesus, who plays as an attacking midfielder for Flamengo in Brazil. Which is literally the only thing he has in common with Martinelli—that he’s Brazilian. Well, that and that he scores goals.

I really hate comparisons, and calling someone “the next” anything. Really, I hate it. It’s terrible. Lucas Torreira, the next N’Golo Kante; Granit Xhaka the next Patrick Vieira. How did those work out?

Naturally, I’m leery to see a teenager what we’ve had for all of four months already have “the next” of himself. Someone younger, even, and less easy to see what the future holds. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to see him signed. I’d be thrilled. And maybe that’s as much “next Gabriel Martinelli” he is. I’d be okay with that.

In the mean time, give me more of Edu’s capabilities to land us talented young Brazilians, because damn it feels good.