Gabriel Martinelli’s Arsenal journey has ended with a £60m move to Al-Hilal. The Brazil international has signed a four-year contract in Saudi Arabia after falling out of Mikel Arteta’s plans at the Emirates Stadium.
The 25-year-old arrived from Ituano in 2019 as a relatively unknown teenager. Seven years later, he leaves as a Premier League champion after making 53 appearances and scoring 11 goals last season.
Yet his final months in north London were far from the fairytale ending many expected. Martinelli was left out of Arsenal’s first two matchday squads, with Arteta making it clear that regular football would be difficult to find.
His position had changed quickly on the left flank. New signing Christos Tzolis and Eberechi Eze had moved ahead of him in the pecking order, leaving Martinelli facing an uncertain future with only 12 months left on his contract.
Martinelli will now look to start a fresh chapter at Al-Hilal, where he joins Ollie Watkins and Crysencio Summerville under Simone Inzaghi.
The Saudi club are joint-top of the league alongside Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr. Martinelli’s reported wages are also expected to be well above his reported £180,000-a-week Arsenal deal.
His departure also closes a remarkable chapter in Arteta’s Arsenal rebuild. Bukayo Saka is now the only player remaining from the squad inherited by Arteta when he took charge in December 2019.
Martinelli’s best Arsenal season came in 2022/23, when his 15 goals helped the Gunners mount a serious title challenge. Now, after helping Arsenal win the league last season, he leaves for a new challenge with one final message to his old club: “Proud to be blue, proud to be Al-Hilal.”
