The Premier League made a victorious comeback over the weekend, as Arsenal continued their attempt to unseat Manchester City from their crown. It has been a long summer of international football and transfer rumors.

With a home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Mikel Arteta’s team had a pleasant opening matchup. Although it wasn’t easy, the North Londoners prevailed 2-0.

The Gunners had a number of standout players, including David Raya, Bukayo Saka, and Kai Havertz, but Gabriel Martinelli was one starter who fell short of expectations.

Arsenal-Martinelli-Hwang-Wolves

The Brazilian international needs to prove his worth in the upcoming games after a disappointing season last year, but the team may be harsh and sign a successor before the window closes.

The future is unknown for Gabriel Martinelli

First things first: no, Martinelli wasn’t all that bad against Wolves on Saturday. However, it’s fair to say that he was lackluster, and his performance didn’t do much to strengthen his position going forward for the season—especially considering that the other starters in the frontline both scored and assisted on a goal.

White, Saka, Timber, Martinelli, Arsenal

But concerns about the Brazilian’s fitness to start for Arteta’s title-chasing team stem from his play in the previous season, which was noticeably worse than this one. These concerns do not stem from Saturday’s matchup.

For instance, he managed just eight goals and five assists in 44 appearances last season, compared to a very impressive haul of 15 goals and six assists in 46 appearances in 2022–2023.

Arsenal—Gabriel Martinelli—Stats

This indicates that he involved in a goal once per 2.19 games two years ago, compared to one every 3.38 last year. Although he did face some knocks in 23/24, they weren’t the only cause of his low performance.

Overall, even though Martinelli is an unquestionably gifted winger, he was unable to demonstrate his abilities last season, and as a result, he may lose his spot on the squad completely. This is especially likely given that the club was linked to a perfect successor early this summer.

Why Martinelli might be replaced by Donyell Malen

It’s true that the man in issue is Donyell Malen of Borussia Dortmund, who was said to be heading to the Emirates for a £34 million move back in July.

Donnelly-Malen-Norway

The Dutchman would be making a return if this possible move materializes. He originally signed with Arsenal in 2015 as a 16-year-old, netting 44 goals for the youth team in two seasons before moving back to the Netherlands to play for PSV Eindhoven.

The dynamo from Wieringen had a fantastic few years with the Eredivisie powerhouses, making 116 appearances while scoring 55 goals and dishing out 24 assists. In July 2021, he earned a £27 million transfer to the Westfalenstadion.

Since then, talent scout Jacek Kulig has called the “unstoppable” star, who has made 112 appearances for die Schwarzgelben, becoming more significant with each passing campaign.

Given the interest from teams like Arsenal, it should come as no surprise that he had his best season to date. In just 38 appearances, he racked up 15 goals and five assists, or an average of one goal every 1.9 games. That’s even better than Martinelli’s average from 22/23 and a significant improvement over his previous year.

Interestingly, with over 60 starts on both flanks and down the middle, the “sizzling” attacker—as U23 scout Antonio Mango put it—can also play across the frontline with ease. Arteta probably wouldn’t be starting nine or seeing a lot of playing time on the right, though, given his performance from the previous season.

In the end, even if Malen isn’t the most well-known player right now, he proven to be a superb attacker the previous campaign, and if Arsenal signs him this summer, he might cause Martinelli some problems.