Forget about Trossard: Arsenal need to unleash their £60m "monster" instead
After a few months of waiting, Arsenal are finally back in Premier League action, with a home tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers serving as the club’s opening game of the season.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to go one better than they did last year and the campaign prior by finally ending their two-decade title drought.
However, Edu Gaspar and Co have made that task harder than it should be by remaining relatively inactive in the transfer market, with Riccardo Calafiori the only addition to the first team thus far.
That said, there have been plenty of links to some incredibly exciting attackers over the last few months, suggesting that some frontline reinforcements could still be brought in before that window slams shut.
However, a certain player will be hoping to put in an impressive enough performance this afternoon to dissuade Arteta from signing a new winger.
Arsenal's summer business
As mentioned above, while David Raya’s move has been made permanent and youngsters Tommy Setford and Lucas Nygaard have joined the club, the only new face added to the first team this summer has been Calafiori, who completed his £42m move from Bologna late last month.
However, while little has happened, there have been a plethora of links to some genuinely exciting attackers, and while strikers such as Victor Osimhen and Viktor Gyokeres have been atop the wishlist of most fans, the club have been linked with a wider array of wingers than traditional centre-forwards.
For example, one of the first sagas of the summer focussed on Nico Williams and his potential move to either Barcelona or Arsenal, only for the European Champion to supposedly opt to remain with Athletic Bilbao for another season.
After him, there were rumours about a potential move for Portuguese star Pedro Neto, who can play on either flank, but that potential deal was put to bed when it was announced that he had joined cross-city rivals Chelsea last week.
Some potential transfers that could still happen include Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sané, with the latter having already worked with Arteta at City and the former another star who could play on either side of a front three.
Amazingly, those are only some of the wide players who have been linked with a move to the Emirates in recent months, and while many of the names mentioned are accustomed to playing on the right or left, it’s clear that whoever eventually signs for the club will get far more game time on the latter, as Bukayo Saka is undoubtedly the first name on the teamsheet at the moment.
Therefore, one of the current Arsenal players most at risk of losing his place to a new signing is Gabriel Martinelli, unless he can put in a performance later today that dissuades Arteta and Co from signing someone who could be his replacement.
Why Martinelli has to start
So, now we’ve established that Martinelli has to up his game in the next couple of weeks to avoid seeing himself potentially replaced with a new signing, let’s look at why he should start against Wolves this afternoon.
Now, there may be plenty of Arsenal fans out there who would rather Leandro Trossard start off the left today, and based on last season alone, it would be hard to disagree with that opinion, as the Belgian racked up 17 goals and two assists in 46 appearances.
However, while the Brazilian’s haul of eight goals and five assists in 44 appearances was somewhat underwhelming, he has the ability and potential to be a superstar winger for the club, and at just 23 years old, he has far more of a future in the lineup than the former Brighton & Hove Albion ace who’s set to turn 30 before the end of the year.
Furthermore, while the £60m-rated wideman wasn’t at his best last season, we have already seen just how good he can be when he is.
For example, in 2022/23, the Guarulhos-born “monster”, as journalist Mark Mann-Bryans described him, scored 15 goals and provided six assists in 46 appearances, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 2.19 games.
Appearances
46
44
Goals
15
8
Assists
6
5
Goal Involvements per Match
0.45
0.29
It’s not just his potential to produce goals and assists that warrant his place in the starting lineup, though; it’s also his style of play, for as talented as his fellow attackers are in this Arsenal squad, they don’t all share his desire to just run at defenders and take them on.
A full-throttle Martinelli offers a totally different kind of threat to someone like Trossard, who might slow things down a bit more to find a better pass or shooting opportunity, and while both are perfectly valid approaches, the former Ituano gem is more likely to get fans off their feet.
Ultimately, the number of wingers linked to Arsenal over the last couple of months should signal to Martinelli that his place in the squad is far from assured and that he simply cannot have a season like he did last year again.
However, for the best players, that threat can also work as motivation, and as we know how good he can be at his best, Arteta should start him this afternoon and let the 23-year-old show him why he doesn’t need to splash the cash on another left-winger.
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