I am happy to hold my hands up and say I was wrong with this one.
When we signed Martinelli, I wrote an honest blog about how I signing and 18-year-old from Brazil sent out a “negative message to the Arsenal Academy”.
Now when we signed him, I had not seen him play. Never heard of him. And anyone that claims to have watched him previously to us signing him is a liar.
The clubs original plan for Martinelli was to stick him in the academy. For him to be part of the development squad.
I questioned what message this would put out to a very talented group of young local lads – Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson, Xavier Amaechi, Bukayo Saka, Tyreece John-Jules and Florian Balogun.
Surely it would be better to give the chance to a guy that had been with the club since he was 6-years-old? By adding an unknown kid from Brazil to this group get a little wrong. A little dirty.
My view point was, and still is, that players from abroad should be bought in at 18 to improve the first team squad, not the U21s.
But I did not know what a talent we had on our hands. And in all honesty I do not think the club fully knew either.
Martinelli ended up not playing in the academy and was instead very quickly promoted to the first team squad. Three years later and he is closing in on 100 appearances for The Arsenal.
Of that group of players I name checked, Bukayo Saka has is the only one to become a first team regular. This reinforces the saying that “if you are good enough you will get your chance”.
Since that blog, I have written a lot on Martinelli. All praise. For me he could emulate what Alexis Sanchez did at the club. And in him and Saka we have two of the brighter young players in Europe (still).
So Gabi, whilst I still do not agree with foreign lads joining the academy at 18-years-old, you proved to everyone that you were better than that.
In blogging, we make snap judgments to stay relevant. And occasionally our initial viewpoint will be wrong.
I probably should have apologised early to Martinelli, but I’d forgotten I wrote the blog until I was searching for another.
I will “hold that L” as the kids say.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
As a content creator, sometimes we have to put our necks on the line, take an opinion that divides opinion and push it out there. Some we win, some we lose. I should probably do an apology for Pepe as I thought we would use him as a forward not a midfield wide-man and waste his talent. None of us have a crystal ball, keep up the good work! 🙂
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Pepe a FORWARD? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Back to the sandbox you go little one
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You are a great guy
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Good on you for writing something like this. And how did Manu not sign him when they had him on trial?
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Three years ago? United set their sights on Edinson Cavani instead. 😉
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You’ve just showed CLASS here buddy. As a writer one should admits his error of judgement which happens often in this trade.
My Respect.
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‘Occasionally’? Only occasionally! Thanks for the perfect example of why bloggers should not exist
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I agree.
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😂😂😂😂😂😂
What a …
Here let me apologize to Martinelli… and take this opportunity to insult a big part of Arsenal and football fans worldwide, all in the name of…self pity?
Remember to post 20 more offensive, insulting articles aimed at every Arsenal supporter… right after we win the PL this season. In the meantime, slither back under your rock.
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Oh and by the way, who’s this Florian guy? Must have missed one transfer here.
In the true fashion of a fake fan/troll you do the one thing you are good at, being a narcissistic, attention seeking sociopath, all while hating Arsenal so damn hard. Just remember, hate Arsenal…😉
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How do u know the club hadnot scouted him and knew full well what they were getting, give the club tje credit they deserves and bloggers like u need to do some proper research instead of being negative
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So we should not judge a player of some ones carrier prematurely. Other wise more is yet to come out of the project.
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I hear you, however your don’t agree with you. Should we apply that same think to jobs? If brain surgeon, is young and foreign who is capable of doing the job, who also wishes to work in the UK. Should we prevent them? No. Vice versa. English taken have left the UK to for a better life and education abroad. Should those countries stop them from coming in no.
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*I don’t agree not your
Sorry for the poor gramma
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