Arsenal: Now that Unai Emery’s gone, can Gabriel Martinelli be a striker?

Gabriel Martinelli’s goal changed Arsenal’s fortunes, so can we now revisit the striker question now that the chief naysayer, Unai Emery, is gone?

I will never understand why anyone would come out and say that a teenage sensation “can’t do” something. Literally anything. That’s why the one thing I will never understand about Unai Emery is why he had to come out and say that Gabriel Martinelli had no future as a striker at Arsenal.

When we signed Martinelli, he was ticketed as an attacker who could play on the wings or through the middle of the attack, leading the line. Emery used Martinelli almost exclusively as a striker in midweek fixtures and it amounted to a goal record that’s now sitting at 87 minutes in between goals.

That’s ridiculous, and it’s not very winger-like either. It’s striker like. And seeing how well he understood everything around him in his goal against West Ham, I think it’s time to reassess what Gabriel Martinelli is, and what he can be.

Watching his goal again, you see such a profound understanding of the situation. Rather than stick to the front of the charge and hug the West Ham defensive line, Martinelli dropped back into space and, with very little effort, turned a first time shot home.

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That was not an easy goal, for starters. But back on topic, his movement was impeccable. It was intelligent and it was the work of an attacker more than capable of leading the line. Without a shadow of a doubt.

That’s why Unai Emery’s decree didn’t make sense—why hamper what’s working?

Freddie Ljungberg used Martinelli as a winger too, and that’s fine. We don’t have to make any decisions right now. But we should be open-minded about his future, which Emery wasn’t. Especially with the futures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette up in the air. We don’t know where either will be next year and, as such, the more options we have should they both leave, the better.

Make no mistake, Martinelli is an option. He hasn’t just been plucking goals against easy teams. And even if he was, he’s a teenage newbie. It’s a big deal.

He’s been scoring impressive goals that aren’t just tap-ins either. Volleys and headers and first-timers. None stand a chance against Martinelli. Not a chance.

I’m not asking for Ljungberg to come out and say the opposite of Emery. I just want an open mind. That’s not too much to ask for.