Gabriel Martinelli’s journey from Brazilian second-tier to World Cup stardom

Arsenal have been reaping the benefits of Gabriel Martinelli’s brilliance for a while, but Brazil look set to follow as he prepares for another World Cup outing against Cameroon

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Brazil fans confident of glory at 2022 World Cup

With Brazil having secured their place in the knockout stages of the Qatar World Cup after two wins from their opening two, boss Tite is expected to ring out the changes for their final group stage clash against Cameroon.

One of those changes is expected to be the inclusion of Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli from the start, rather than a late cameo appearance off the bench like the one he was given against Serbia on match-day one. While that outing would have no doubt meant the world to the Gunners ace, a first start for the Selecao would mark years of relentless work coming to frution.

Of course, any player that manages to represent their country has likely done so thanks to years of hard graft, but there feels something slightly different about Martinelli’s rise to the top. There’s an undeniable feel-good factor, but also a sense of…’finally’.

Perhaps not from the outside, with some questioning Martinelli’s inclusion in the 26-man squad from the moment it was announced, but to those closest to him – this has been a long-time coming.

Just ask his father, Joao, who according to Martinelli himself first tipped the supremely talented forward to play for Brazil when he was just seven years old.

Speaking to Ian Wright’s Wrighty’s House podcast in the summer, the 21-year-old explained: “Since I was seven I think when I start football my dad said ‘when you turn 21 you will play at the World Cup. Every single day he was like ‘2022’.

“My dad was always talking to me about this – at this point he did not know I would become a footballer. I was seven – how would he know?”

Gabriel Martinelli’s father Joao first predicted he would play for Brazil in the World Cup when the Arsenal star was just seven (

Image:

joao_martinelli61/Instagram)

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Well, he may have had an idea due to the time and effort that was put in by those around Martinelli to help him reach the upper echelons of the footballing elite.

Martinelli opened up on his father’s unconventional training methods to the Players Tribune earlier this month, as he revealed: “All we had done was play on a worn-down court near our home in Guarulhos, São Paulo. The goals didn’t even have nets. I’d jump on my dad’s back, we’d walk down to the court and when we got there I’d say, ‘Dad, let’s dribble! Let’s play.'”

“He would be like, ‘No, no. We’re gonna train your left foot.’ Left foot!!! I had not even turned six! He was serious. He was the goalie, he threw the ball out and I would shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot.

“Ten shots … a hundred shots … a thousand shots….”

Watching the youngster score goals for the Gunners on a regular basis this term makes it easy to forget that just three years ago, Martinelli was still plying his trade for fourth-tier Brazilian outfit Ituano FC. This is where his story starts to differ from some of his Selecao team-mates.

Despite playing for minnows Ituano, Martinelli was already undergoing individual specialist training schedules, holding meetings with his father and two agents to discuss ‘detailed projections’ for his career and even enjoying a specific diet put on by a nutritionist – all while still a teenager that as of yet had made minimal impact in senior football.

At this stage, all Martinelli had on his CV was a brief stint at Corinthinians before joining Ituano, though it didn’t take him long to make his mark there as his first coach revealed to The Athletic back in 2019.

“He made a great first impression,” recalls Luiz Antonio, Martinelli’s coach at under-15, under-17 and under-20 level. “He was a year younger and a lot smaller than the other kids, so we didn’t use him in every game at the start. But he would always come on and score, and when he did make the starting line-up, he never left it.

Gabriel Martinelli started his senior career at Ituano in his home country of Brazil (

Image:

gabriel.martinelli/Instagram)

“He was a boy with huge technical ability, and real desire — to train, to score goals. He was a cut above the normal.”

Shortly after, Antonio provides the most interesting remark of all when he claims: “When he arrived here, we were told that he was ‘the boy with the project,'” – It was made clear to all who crossed his path that Martinelli was only interested in making it to the very top for both club and country.

Having always harboured dreams of plying his trade in Europe, it must have come as a crushing blow to Martinelli when the first time around proved to be a false dawn. Manchester United were actually the first Premier League club to get their hands on him, inviting him to train with them on four separate occasions between 2015 and 2017.

Gabriel Martinelli was a teenager when he first arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2019

The wide-forward was even handed some minutes off the bench for the Red Devils during an Under-18’s clash against Lincoln City, but the all important contract offer never came.

March 2018 saw him earn his first taste of senior football with Ituano after Martinelli put the United disappointment behind him and after needing no adjustment to the rigours of professional football at all, Arsenal capitalised on the mistake from those over at Old Trafford a year and a half later.

Signed by the since-departed Unai Emery, Martinelli showcased his impressive finishing early on with a couple of braces in the opening exchanges of his Arsenal career against Nottingham Forest and Standard Liege respectively.

With little grasp on the English language, the then-teenager relied on the likes of fellow countryman David Luiz to help show him the ropes in north London. Such is Martinelli’s desire to reach the top, he started taking English lessons three times a week after training.

Things were going swimmingly until the summer of 2020, when he had damaged the cartilage in his knee and was ruled out of action for five months. Even after his recovery period, it took Martinelli quite some time to force his way back into what was now Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side.

The Gunners boss seemed unsure on Martinelli in the early exchanges of 2021 and would hand him fleeting minutes here and there, but was a young man who had already upped sticks to the other side of the world while still a teenager with his family’s hopes weighing heavily on his shoulders let that stop him? Not a chance.

He has since gone on to establish himself as one of the first names on the team-sheets at the Emirates as a result of his perfect blend of relentless work-rate and ability to put the ball in the back of the net. Those are two traits that have likely gone some way to helping him secure his place for Brazil out in Qatar.

Gabriel Martinelli made his World Cup debut for Brazil against Serbia last week

With that being said, national team boss Tite opened up on why he opted to take a chance on Martinelli before the tournament started despite the fact he had just 81 minutes worth of international football experience prior to his inclusion.

“Gabriel Martinelli’s role: Outward, winger, aggressive. He’s been one of the highlights at Arsenal, at the top of the Premier League,” he told Globo Esporte. “A player of individual plays, of transitions in speed. Who was with us in two call-ups, who’s been maintaining this high level.”

That’s the template required right there – should Martinelli make that starting eleven for Brazil’s final group game, he should keep the words of his manager ringing in his ears and aim to be outward and aggressive against a Cameroon side that won’t make it easy.

Then again, Martinelli has rarely ever had it ‘easy’, nor would he want to – that’s just not his style.