Arsenal starlet Gabriel Martinelli reveals near-Barcelona move

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Arsenal teenager Gabriel Martinelli has revealed he actually went to train with Barcelona, before making his 2019 summer move to the Emirates Stadium.

The Brazilian is now settled in the English capital and has made quite the impression in 2019/20.

The South American starlet has scored 10 goals for the Gunners across all competitions, and is viewed by many as the club’s best young prospect in years.

Martinelli is a regular member of the first-team now, and is practically always included in matchday squads barring injury.

His personal development arguably couldn’t be going much better at the moment, despite the collective struggles of the team.

Arsenal fans know they are lucky to have signed him for such a small fee (£6 million, The Telegraph) and the Gunners’ gain appears to have come at the expense of Barcelona, who Martinelli says he trained with at their famed La Masia academy.

Speaking to Marca, he admitted: “Barcelona invited me to train with them in La Masía, but afterwards they didn’t want to do anything with me, they didn’t tell me anything.

“I went back to Ituano, I played Copinha, and then I came to Arsenal.”

TBR’s view – Lucky Arsenal

Arsenal fans will be thanking their lucky stars that Barca didn’t want to sign Martinelli.

One has to wonder if they now regret not taking a chance on the starlet, who has genuinely been one of Arsenal’s best players this season, having contributed a goal or an assist every 86 minutes.

Perhaps Martinelli will set out to use that rejection as a way of driving himself on to succeed, which would be very exciting indeed for the Gunners.