Alan Smith just said what all Arsenal fans are thinking of Gabriel Martinelli's Al Hilal move

Arsenal great Alan Smith sounds quite confused about Gabriel Martinelli being close to joining Al Hilal this summer.

Martinelli has been rumored to be open to the possibility of playing for Al Hilal this season, and a deal is close to completion, according to many reports.

Martinelli had interest from Turkey as well, with Galatasaray showing a reasonable desire to sign the Brazilian.

However, he turned them away because he wanted to play in competitive leagues, but now, he is close to joining a team in the Saudi Pro League.

That is something that Smith, among others – like the author – does not quite understand.

Gabriel Martinelli's move to Al Hilal contradicts his own reason for rejecting Galatasaray

He said: “Arsenal seem to still be looking for a left-sided player even though Tzolis has come in, but Trossard has left. £50m? It’s nothing these days, is it? You can get an average player… but Martinelli isn’t an average player. Martinelli has been very good for Arsenal over the years. He’s maybe lost his way a little bit.

“He’s only 25 so if he wants to leave which he probably does, if he thinks he’s not going to get the game-time… to go to Saudi Arabia at this stage of his career, he might feel he can do a couple of years and come back, I don’t know.”

It is a confusing message from Smith, and to be honest, many of the people are confused about this potential transfer.

There are a number of confusions here. One is the obvious – why go to Saudi Arabia if you want game-time in a competitive league? For another, why would the club want to sell him? Is it because he is not good enough for the first team, or is it because he is in the final year of his contract?

If this is Arsenal who want to sell him and not Martinelli who wants to leave, who could the Gunners actually bring in for that price? They surely won’t go into the season with just one left-winger, so it is obvious that they will look for a replacement.

If they do, who is going to play there? Would they sign a superstar left-winger, or would he be an understudy to Tzolis? There are so many questions, and not many answers at the moment.

To Smith’s last point, he could be right – going and coming back from Saudi Arabia is something players do to sort out the rest of their careers, but they also lose their way a little bit. They lose some of their spark, which has happened to players who have come back from that league. Playing against weaker opposition for an extended period of time would hurt any player, and Martinelli won’t be any different.

It is a situation which does not really make sense for anybody, but the price – for a player who has not shown enough consistency and is in his last contract year – is good, which is why Arsenal are probably looking to sell him.

Maybe there is something in the works.

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