Arsenal have serious competition for places across the forward line and former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes believes that Gabriel Martinelli hasn’t been cutting it
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes claims that Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli has gone ‘backwards’ under Mikel Arteta.
Brazil international Martinelli has only scored four goals so far this season, having returned just eight last term following a career-high 15 strikes in the 2022-23 campaign. Martinelli is no longer a nailed-on starter for the Gunners and doubts have been raised about his long-term suitability as Arteta and Co. chase major honours.
Scholes and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher have both questioned the 23-year-old’s role and believe that he hasn’t progressed at the same rate as team-mates Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. “Do you think it’s necessarily a striker or just another top attacking player?” Carragher asked on The Overlap Fan Debate.
“I look at Martinelli and actually think probably three years ago when this team was just getting built, it felt like Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli were all at the same sort of level, looked like they could go on and be top players. I think the other two have, I’m not sure about Martinelli.”
Scholes replied: “Yeah, it feels like he’s gone backwards a little bit. You thought a year, 18 months ago, ‘Wow, what a player’, and he has stalled a little bit. He’s still young, isn’t he? We said pre-season a centre forward was always something that we felt Arsenal needed, and for some reason I don’t think the manager did.
“Then we all thought Odegaard coming back into the team would create more and I think he has made them a better team and I think eventually they will be okay. But January is so hard, who is out there? I think you need goals from everywhere, and I don’t see them coming from the midfield area for Arsenal.”
The ex-England international says that Arsenal need more goals from midfield to win the Premier League title, with the Gunners already six points behind Liverpool, despite having played one game more. “You think Declan Rice could be that man to go and get you 10, 15 goals,” Scholes continued.
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“But I’ve never actually seen it, and I don’t see where other than Saka scoring, [Kai] Havertz drying up as well, I think Odegaard is still getting chances and eventually with the quality he’s got he is going to contribute but I think they all have to contribute. At some point you’ve got to try to affect the game.
“I think too many times these days the midfield try to stay there, try to control the game, help defensively. But when you’re a midfield player it’s every aspect of the game.
“Someone different has got to try and win a game, they don’t seem to be thinking about that. It’s, ‘I’m playing my position, I’m alright’, not taking responsibility. To win a league everyone has to contribute and I don’t think they all are.”
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