Arsenal: Gabriel Martinelli is top priority and don’t forget it

Arsenal’s attack is taking on a very… temporary state, and I’m ready to see it turn back into something more along the lines of Gabriel Martinelli.

Mikel Arteta has started his Arsenal tenure in truly fantastic fashion. We’ve seen new life from Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette‘s confidence monster is just about beaten into submission.

It’s shaping up into a front four composed of those three and Nicolas Pepe. That’s a powerful, expensive attack, no doubt. But it is also keenly lacking the player who should have become our No. 1 priority—Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli was a mainstay under Unai Emery and solidified his presence in the here and now of our game plan going forward. So much so that he has to be the first name on the team sheet in that attack.

There are a lot of reason I say that. For starters, of the star-studded front four, two should be leaving as soon as possible and Lacazette will probably follow (though I hope not).

That in and of itself is reason enough to start Martinelli over them, but beyond that, there’s the simple matter of him being just as good, if not better than, this nearest competition. I realize it might seem crazy to say he’s as good as Aubameyang. Maybe it is. But I’m also taking into account what the young Brazilian means to our future, as compared to the more venerated Aubameyang.

Not just that, but all things considered, Martinelli has only been out-produced this year by Aubameyang himself. Nicolas Pepe is tied with ten goals produced, but get Martinelli back in the fold, and you’ll see him start to produce again.

I have to remind myself that this isn’t just a fantasy. Martinelli has been incredible at whatever level he’s played at. He has looked every bit ready to be a part of the first choice XI and I thoroughly believe that he would play a better left wing than Aubameyang. And I will add to that by saying if we want to move Aubameyang to striker and sit Lacazette for Martinelli, I think we’d have the perfect solution.

However it happens, it has to happen. Arteta has shown a tendency to give Reiss Nelson first dibs, but Martinelli is just better. He’s better than Bukayo Saka, he’s better than the lot. And the sooner we can give him free reign to the starting XI, the better off we’ll be.