Gabriel Martinelli considers leaving Arsenal amid transfer speculation

Arsenal may be about to lose one of the more electric presences in their attack. Gabriel Martinelli, the Brazilian winger who joined the club from Ituano back in July 2019, is open to leaving the Emirates this summer, with his future becoming one of the more closely watched storylines of the transfer window.

He has two years remaining on his current contract, plus an option for a one-year extension. That is not the profile of a player whose club holds all the cards.

What we know about the departure talk

Arsenal’s reported willingness to entertain offers for Martinelli appears tied to a broader reshaping of the squad’s attacking options. The club has been linked with left-sided attackers including Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, suggesting that any Martinelli sale would be less about cutting losses and more about funding an upgrade in profile.

Reports place the window for serious offers opening around late June 2026, with Leandro Trossard also potentially available.

The clubs linked to Martinelli are not exactly basement-division suitors. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Atlético Madrid have all been connected to the winger, with Real Madrid reportedly preparing a bid in the region of £45 million.

Martinelli’s timing is not accidental. He featured for Brazil at the 2026 World Cup, entering as a substitute in their match against Haiti on June 20.

Martinelli’s Arsenal arc, in brief

When Martinelli arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2019, he was a teenager from a Brazilian second-division club that most Premier League fans had never heard of. His debut came on August 11, 2019, and within months he had announced himself with a series of performances that made the fee look like a rounding error on a spreadsheet.

Under Mikel Arteta, Martinelli became a genuine first-team fixture, his directness and pressing intensity fitting neatly into the high-energy system Arteta built around Arsenal’s title-challenging squads.

Recent seasons brought more competition for places and tactical evolution that, at times, complicated Martinelli’s role. That shift in perception appears to have opened a door that Martinelli himself may now be willing to walk through.

What this means for Arsenal and the market

A Martinelli sale creates a straightforward financial equation for Arsenal. At a reported £45 million valuation, the proceeds would give the club meaningful transfer budget to redirect toward a replacement, which the reported interest in Barcola and Kvaratskhelia suggests is already being planned.

For the clubs pursuing Martinelli, the calculus looks different. Real Madrid adding a dynamic, pressing winger with World Cup exposure and Premier League pedigree at £45 million would represent reasonable value for a player in his mid-twenties. Bayern Munich, rebuilding their own attacking unit, would be acquiring someone with a clear tactical fit for high-intensity systems. Atlético Madrid, whose style under Diego Simeone has always rewarded relentless runners, would be getting a player whose work rate is arguably his most distinctive quality.

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