Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli broke into the first-team squad last season with a lot of promise but he’s fallen down the pecking order this time around.
And recently there have been rumours floating around that the manager could send the youngster out on loan during the January transfer window.
But in a recent interview, Arteta has firmly backed Gabriel Martinelli to reclaim his spot in the side and also rubbished the rumours of an exit.
The manager said, as quoted: ‘Well because of the amount of players we have in those positions, he had some games that he played.
‘He started against Brentford, he started against Chelsea and he started another game. Unfortunately he got an injury last week, it is a minor injury and we don’t know if he’s going to be available for Monday.
‘We have a lot of trust with Gabi and we need to find space for him to grow within the squad.
‘If you look at the number of games he’s played the injuries have been a big setback for him, we sometimes forget his age and we need to try and help him maintain that balance because you can generate frustration that comes out of, in my opinion, a not very realistic diagnosis and we need time.
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‘I’m very happy with him we are not thinking about anything like that(loan move).’
Gabriel Martinelli has played just 148 minutes of football across two Premier League games this season and now we know that his recent absence is due to an injury setback.
Arteta is still trying to find out what his best starting XI is and we are sure that the Brazilian will once again get a chance to prove himself.
Also, Mikel Arteta is focusing on young talent as part of his rebuilding process and once Alexandre Lacazette leaves in January, Martinelli is sure to move up the pecking order.
