Arteta favourite pulled from Arsenal training, Gunners ‘pushing’ him towards exit

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta faced the media on Thursday for his pre-Aston Villa press conference at London Colney, previewing Monday’s 8pm kick-off and fielding a string of questions about players who look set to be on their way out of the Emirates before the window shuts.

Asked about Gabriel Martinelli leaving training ahead of his team-mates, Arteta was guarded but warm: “That’s another personal situation that we’re dealing with. I think everybody knows and recognises how much we love Gabi. Whatever the outcome is, it will be because everybody agrees to that.”

Pushed on whether he’d spoken to Martinelli directly, he added: “Yes, for sure. Those conversations go both ways, but I’m very satisfied with how these conversations went because I know what is in each other’s hearts.”

That diplomacy makes a lot more sense now. Fabrizio Romano has since confirmed, in his latest YouTube video, that Martinelli’s move to Al Hilal is close to being finalised, with the Brazilian winger set to leave north London for Saudi Arabia after seven years at the club.

Arsenal ‘pushing’ striker towards summer exit

Romano didn’t stop there. In the same video, he revealed that Gabriel Jesus is a second player Arsenal are actively trying to move on, with the striker having fallen out of regular first-team training because of a surplus of attacking options in Arteta’s squad.

According to Romano, the club are ‘pushing’ the striker for a solution before deadline day rather than allow him to run down the final year of his contract and leave for nothing next summer.

It’s a striking stance given how highly Arteta rates him. The Arsenal boss has never hid his admiration for what Jesus still offers if fit: “The movement, the quality of his touches, the way he finished, his reactions – that is a big, big thing for him and the team.

“It is a big message for the team in that we have got Gabby back at his best. Playing at that level he can really deliver for us.

His numbers back up why Arteta rates him so highly when available. Since joining from Manchester City, Jesus has made 123 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 32 goals and adding 22 assists.

The problem has always been that “if” he is fit remains a big “if”. His time at the club has been repeatedly disrupted by injury, most seriously a cruciate ligament tear that kept him out for 319 days and cost him 46 games across the last two seasons.

That’s eight separate spells on the sidelined list in four years, several of them knee-related, and it paints a picture of a genuinely talented forward who has simply never been able to string together a sustained run of fitness at Arsenal.

With Arteta seemingly unwilling to keep gambling on that changing, and the club keen to avoid losing him for nothing in 12 months, a parting of the ways before deadline day looks increasingly likely – even if, on the pitch, he’s shown he can still deliver when his body allows it.