LONDON — Nobody told Gabriel Martinelli in public. The message came privately, delivered at London Colney sometime in July, and it was unambiguous. Mikel Arteta sat down with a player who had scored 62 goals across seven Arsenal seasons and made his position clear: there was no place for him at the club this year. The window was open. Martinelli could find somewhere else to go.
On Thursday, he did.
Al Hilal confirmed the signing of the Brazilian winger for £60 million, a fee that surpasses every player Arsenal have ever sold and sends one of the club’s most recognizable forward players to the Saudi Pro League at the age of 25. The deal, which includes a sell-on clause, breaks the Arsenal outgoing record that had stood since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s £35 million move to Liverpool in 2017. Martinelli signed a four-year contract. “Proud to be blue, proud to be Al-Hilal,” he said in an unveiling video that Al Hilal posted Thursday afternoon.
Arteta acknowledged the departure in the language of institutional consensus. “Everybody knows and recognised how much we love Gabi,” the Arsenal manager said, “and whatever the outcome is, it is because everyone agrees to that.” Ian Wright did not make the same calculation. The former Arsenal striker said this week that the manner of Martinelli’s exit had left him feeling uncomfortable: the quiet exclusion from the Community Shield squad, the absence from the starting eleven against Coventry in the Premier League opener, the steady withdrawal of minutes that told a player what no manager wants to say directly.
The numbers Martinelli leaves behind are significant. He made 278 appearances in all competitions, scored 62 goals, and was part of the Arsenal squad that won the Premier League in 2026, the club’s first title since 2004. He contributed to an FA Cup triumph and three Community Shields. He worked across a period when the club was rebuilding its identity, and he did so without complaint. The seven-year total is as long as many Arsenal players ever get.
Earlier in the window, Martinelli had turned down a £38.9m offer from Galatasaray, unwilling to accept a lateral move to Turkey. When Al Hilal came with £60 million guaranteed and wages significantly beyond his £180,000 a week at the Emirates, the arithmetic became less complicated. The Saudi transfer window remains open until September 6, which is why the deal was completed two days after the Premier League deadline closed, a structural gap in the football calendar that both clubs had tracked and used.
Under Inzaghi, Al Hilal have shed the reputation for being a club that collects expensive footballers without creating a football identity. Ollie Watkins arrived from Aston Villa for £51 million. Crysencio Summerville came from West Ham for £60 million. Martinelli joins a club with a clearly stated direction. According to Sky Sports, the deal was structured to provide Arsenal with a sell-on percentage in any future sale.
For Martinelli, the weight of the departure is harder to measure in fees. He came to Arsenal at 18 from Brazilian fourth-division club Ituano, barely speaking the language, learning a new city while trying to earn a place in a Premier League squad. He found his game there, sharpened it through hundreds of training sessions and the kind of playing time that only comes to players who prove they deserve the next opportunity. He scored at the Emirates and at Old Trafford. He came on in games that looked finished and changed them through sheer refusal to stop running. He won the Premier League in his seventh year. Seven months later, Arteta told him that was not enough.
Arsenal’s summer sales now exceed £120 million, with Leandro Trossard already sold to Besiktas and Gabriel Jesus departing to Barcelona on the same day as Martinelli’s exit. The financial logic is clean. The emotional texture is different.
What has not been settled is the question Ian Wright’s discomfort implies: whether a player with Martinelli’s track record should have been sold without a genuine opportunity to fight for his place. The weaknesses Arsenal showed in preseason, when Borussia Dortmund exposed gaps in their defensive transitions at the Emirates Cup, suggested the squad depth Martinelli offered had some residual value. Whether Tzolis can fully replace what Martinelli could do on his best days is a question the season will answer.
Arteta has made his decision. Martinelli has signed his contract. Arsenal have a record in the bank. The arrangement works for everyone who agreed to it. Whether the people watching from the stands will see Arteta vindicated by spring is what remains to be seen.
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