Theo Walcott takes aim at Gabriel Martinelli as Arsenal’s £20m price difference emerges

Theo Walcott has been critical of Gabriel Martinelli’s failure to make the most of his opportunities in Arsenal’s loss at Liverpool with the Gunners open to selling the Brazilian

Gabriel Martinelli has been accused of “messing up” by failing to make the most of Liverpool’s makeshift right-back Dominik Szoboszlai during Arsenal’s loss at Anfield.

The Gunners were beaten by their title rivals in an early season encounter with Szoboszlai coming up with the winning goal courtesy of a stunning free-kick. The Hungarian spent the entire match in a new and unconventional role in the defensive line.

Usually a midfielder, Szoboszlai is having to fill in at right-back due to injuries, but Martinelli failed to take advantage of his lack of natural defensive instincts. On numerous occasions the Brazilian backed out of taking on his opponent in one-on-one scenarios, where he would’ve been expected to come out on top.

Former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who spent 13 years at the club, was stunned that Martinelli didn’t make the most of the opportunity as he was largely nullified in the final third.

He said in the It’s Called Soccer podcast: “Szoboszlai wasn’t tested at all. You’ve got a centre-midfield player at full-back, that’s music to my ears, but not at one point did Martinelli do his strengths. If you overthink things as a winger, you mess up.”

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Arsenal have bolstered their frontline over the summer and they were open to selling Martinelli, but all the interest in their forward fell £20million short of their valuation and as a result no sale was considered. His departure would only have been considered if a buyer came up with a £60m bid.

The Daily Mail reports that any interested parties were not prepared to go beyond that £40m mark and, as a result, any thought of selling him was shelved and he remains part of an attack that has been bolstered by the arrivals of Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke.

Martinelli played 51 times for Mikel Arteta’s side last season, the highest number during his career, but did not look like the player he has in years gone by. Despite the arrival of more competition the Arsenal boss claimed the Brazilian still has a hugely important role to play going forward.

He said: “No, I think Gabi has been a super important player for us and he’s going to remain very, very, very important. The fact that we have options with different qualities, that’s going to fulfil what we want, because every opponent is going to require different things and then the state, the moment, the way that those players are impacting the game – that competition is needed.

“We have him in many other areas on the pitch and he’s needed, especially in the front line, to start the game and to finish the game. So, I’m very happy with what we have.”

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