Arsenal: 3 internal replacements for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

1. Gabriel Martinelli

The most like-for-like replacement in the Arsenal squad is Gabriel Martinelli. He might only be in his first season at the club after stepping up from the fourth tier of Brazilian football, but even at 18 years of age, Martinelli has shown an incredible aptitude for elite Premier League football.

He is Arsenal’s second-top goalscorer behind Aubameyang, has a phenomenal knack for finding scoring positions in and around the penalty area, is a clinical finisher, despite his youthfulness, and possesses the technical qualities to play in tight spaces, showing sharpness and speed to receive the ball in the box and get shots off before defenders can react.

Martinelli also has the work-rate to play as a winger. He made 33.8 pressures per 90 minutes this season. Of players who have played more minutes than Martinelli, only Dominic Solanke has made more. More impressively, he ranks fifth in pressures in the defensive third, despite mostly playing as an attacker. In the Arsenal squad, only Ceballos made more defensive-third pressures.

Martinelli, then, is a striker who can play as a winger with a terrific defensive work ethic and a knack for scoring goals. Does it remind you of anyone? He might just be the perfect Aubameyang replacement.