William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino (Photo by Justin Setterfield, Alex Pantling / Getty Images)
What is the next step for Gabriel Martinelli after the Ebechi Eze signature?
Obviously there have been a lot of discussions on Gabriel Martinelli lately, given his start to the season and the arrival of Ebelechi Eze.
Martinelli has been such a pillar of Mikel Arteta’s team in recent years, but there is no doubt that his place in the team is as threatened as ever.
There is now serious competition on the left side and Martinelli’s difficulties for consistency in the last two seasons have been a great decline in terms of its level of contributions.
The goals have dried up and at the moment, it looks like a player who really lacks belief and confidence, which was very obvious with his performance in Liverpool before the international break.
Many fans believe that an upgrade is necessary to the left of the attack and although Eze is a different profile to play Martinelli, this position on the left certainly looks like its best road in the XI.
It is a great season for Martinelli, who feels crucial in terms of place where his future could lie.
We talked about his departure in summer, but I don’t think it was really going to happen. It would have taken a large offer at Arsenal to consider a sale and we never arrived.
There was a certain interest on the part of Saudi Arabia, but it is as far as things happened and I do not think it was a decision that would have interested Martinelli at this stage of his career.
I think that Arsenal’s position on a potential sale could change next summer, especially, especially if Martinelli has another largely frustrating season.
He will have two years of his agreement at that time and with Arsenal needing to make sales in the near future, the Brazilian could find himself towards the front of this queue.
Arsenal Plan to accelerate contractual lectures with Star Duo
With the transfer window now fenced, the priority for Arsenal is to accelerate contractual interviews with Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.
Andrea Berta has done a good job with regard to renewals since her arrival as a sports director, with Gabriel Magalhaes, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly, all writing new long-term offers.
But undoubtedly the two most important renewals must still be converse, Saka and Saliba are now both in the last two years of their current contracts.
The discussions have been underway for some time now with the two players and Arsenal are convinced that the discussions are going well and the two engage their future in the north of the London club.
I could not say with certainty when these transactions were agreed, because they are complicated and that Saka and Saliba were in the last year of their old transactions before putting the pen for the last time on paper in 2023.
Hope at Arsenal is that no negotiations hang out as long as this time and the noises around Saka are certainly very positive.
Berta has had a lot on his plate since his arrival, but he now has a little time to really work on renewals and Arsenal is convinced that there will soon be progress.
Can Mikel Merino reproduce his Spain form for Arsenal?
Several arsenal players drew attention during the international break, but nothing more than Mikel Merino.
What an exceptional hat-trick that was for Spain in its 6-0 victory in Türkiye. All the finishes were excellent and perfectly presented its impressive ability to find the net when it is in and around the penalty surface.
We obviously saw him last season when he played the role of fortune typing at Arsenal and it was only another example of the clinic that he can be when he obtains a goal.
I think he is an underestimated player and he receives a lot of unfair criticism. Many people wrongly consider him a defensive player and we saw him in the reaction to his inclusion in the departure XI in Anfield before the international break.
Like others, I would have preferred to see someone like Ebelechi Eze starting that day against Liverpool. Playing Merino with Declan Rice and Martin Zubimenddi felt as the conservative option in terms of creativity in the midfield, but there is no doubt that he offers a threat of serious goal. He is just very composed when he has a chance sniff.
I think that the biggest problem with him with regard to Arsenal is that he is still not really clear exactly what type of player he is with regard to the system that Mikel Arteta plays.
When he is chosen in the midfield, we very rarely see him drifting in the type of space which allows him to obtain the kind of chance that we saw him so well finished against Turkey.
So maybe if Arteta wants to make the most of him, he must find a role that gives him a little more freedom in and around the box.
In a realistic way, I do not really see it happening unless it is used as an attacker, that is why I never really see Merino being a regular starter in this team if everyone is in good shape.
He will have a lot of minutes because Artata assesses him sharply, but unless a series of injuries, I don’t see him starting too many games, certainly in the League anyway.
But he is a really useful team player and I don’t think we saw the last to play him forward at Arsenal. It could always be a very good option there if necessary.
Cristhian Mosquera deserves a race in the side while William Saliba is absent
Of course, it’s a blow to be without William Saliba. He is one of the best central defenders in the world and is a part, in my opinion, the best central defense partnership in the world in any case.
So you want it to be in good shape and available all the time, especially at this stage of the season when Arsenal has a lot of early lighting difficult to sail.
I saw France ‘reports on a potential absence of 3 to 4 weeks due to the ankle problem he took against Liverpool, but it is not yet something that I had confirmed, so I’m still not sure that this period is correct.
So we will see what is happening and how fast it is recovering. Mikel Arteta will undoubtedly be asked about the situation at the press conference on Friday.
The main thing for Arsenal if they want to be without a saliba is that they have so much in -depth force in defense that they have given themselves the best chance possible to be able to face such an important player.
Cristhian Mosquera is perhaps young, but he has a lot of high level experience and we saw when he came to Anfield how impressive he is. He has exceptionally faced this situation and to be honest, he barely set foot in the club since he arrived at the club.
I think if Saliba is missing the next games, it will be Mosquera who will replace him. This is what it was signed to do and Arteta showed Anfield that he has total faith in the old man of Valence.
There are of course other options. The hope is that Ben White will come back from his injury this weekend against Nottingham Forest and that he could play it, just like Jurrien Timber, with White playing in the right back. You can even play Riccardo Calafiori if the needs are to.
But I don’t see that happening. Mosquera has already shown its capacities since its arrival in summer and I am sure that Artata will be happy to give it a race in the side alongside a leader like Gabriel.
